Wavering Washington
by lNightWriterl
Summary: The team is back! This time listening on how Tony's first case at NCIS went down. Sequel to my first story Baltimore Beginnings, though I wouldn't say you had to read that one to get this drift of this one...Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone (: Welcome to my sequel, Wavering Washington! So excited to be back! Lol, sorry I sound like a game show host or something. Anyways, for those of you who don't know, this is a sequel to my other story Baltimore Beginnings. WAIT! I can already see some of you clicking the back button because you haven't read that one. If you don't want to read the first story, no problem, I wrote some highlights of what you need to know at the bottom (: I always hate it when I like the 2nd story and not the 1st, so I just get really confused trying to read it. Lol, I don't want to do that to you! **

**For those of you who HAVE read that one...Thanks for coming back (: This one will probably wrap up everything I DIDN'T last time. You guys have been awesome, and spoiling me with all your thoughts and opinions. Hope this one keeps up to par with my last!**

* * *

**Chapter 1~**

***Present Time***

Tony DiNozzo walked briskly up the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. The fall breeze hit his face, reminding him to zip up his jacket.

The house he was moving towards looked like a typical American dream home. Two stories, small, and homely. A chimney was huffing out smoke in an old fashion sense, making the whole place seem warm and inviting, with the shrubs cut and trimmed to perfection.

Whistling to himself, Tony continued to the driveway, his mind focused on _James Bond_ and _The Defiant Ones_. As he made his way to the porch, where two rocking chairs sat, a larger figure popped its head up at the sound of Tony's approach.

"Hey there girl." The agent greeted the dog and it let out a small bark in response, shooting up to meet him excitedly. It was a hunting dog- weimaraner to be exact, with a slim grey body and pulsing golden eyes.

"Aw, Zelda!" Tony beamed as the dog jumped on him, licking his face with exaggerated tail wags "Hey there beautiful- You miss me? Good girl." He laughed, wrestling with her as she attempted to nip at his ear playfully.

Normally, the NCIS agent would be the first to admit dogs didn't exactly like him- but there seemed to be an exception to everything. When Tony and his Baltimore partner, Alex Smith had reached their first year working together, Tony had gone out of his way to get Zelda for him, his daughter having told him that Alex always wanted a dog. So he did some research, learning some things about the Smith family so that he could make a good pick for the puppy.

Vanessa wanted something she could run with, wanting to constantly move. Her sister Rachel, just wanted a dog that was smart (Apparently, her first dog was not a success in that department), and Alex's wife wanted something that would keep her company at home. Alex himself had mentioned he wanted something he could build a strong bond with.

All of which led to Tony buying little Zelda, who was only three weeks old at the time. His partner had been completely ecstatic at the time, seeming more like a small child than a senior cop.

Over the years, Tony had come over often enough and helped train Zelda so that the dog had been fond of him as well.

Tony wondered often if he should get a dog, just because Zelda always seemed to lift his spirits. He loved being around her. Of course, reason would kick in soon enough and slap him in the face. He was a federal agent, and didn't really have much time to take care of much aside from himself. And even then- according to others he didn't always do a stellar job.

"Anthony?" Tony looked up at the familiar voice and smiled, trying to appear innocent.

"Hey there Mrs. Smith. I wasn't doing anything." He told her unconvincingly from the ground as Zelda laid down on top of him.

"That certainly looks to be the case." She laughed, gesturing him inside. "You didn't call. Is there a problem?"

"Nah." He responded walking into the heated living room and slipping off his coat "I just wanted to see you guys. It's been forever."

"More like a week."

"A very long week." He told her with a grin and the blonde woman rolled her eyes fondly.

"Trust me, it was for Alex too. I don't think he's used to something called _quiet_."

"What? I'm afraid I don't understand that word. I have never heard of this 'quiet' thing." Tony frowned mockingly. He rubbed Zelda's head once more before falling into the nearest arm cushion and smiled.

"Alex isn't here?" he asked and Scarlett nodded, looking him over in the same critical manner she always did when he came over.

"He went to the store. He'll be back any second." She told him and disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, bustling back seconds later with a tray of soup, cookies, and hot chocolate. Tony couldn't exactly say he was surprised, but that didn't stop the look of exasperation on his face.

"I'm really fin-"

"Eat." She cut him off and gave him a challenging look that practically dared Tony to try and refuse.

"Alright, alright." He sighed, not really putting up too much of a fight, considering it _was_ Scarlett's cooking, and damn if it wasn't good.

Scarlett smiled lightly, choosing not to comment as she went around the house. Her voice hummed over the air, straightening pictures and dusting off tables. Every so often she would pause and touch Tony's hair or shoulder, as if making sure he was definitely there and alive. It was something the agent normally wouldn't tolerate, but Scarlett would always have that right to him.

The next ten minutes consisted mainly of Tony eating as Scarlett updated him about the world of the Smith's. From parties (which she still insisted she went to, despite her age of almost sixty) to hunting trips to vacations in Ireland (don't ask). An occasional comment would be made by Tony, only to shushed by the older woman, and given more food until he literally was almost bursting.

"…and then I told Mr. Johnson- he was there you know- I told him about you. I said that federal agents weren't all that bad and my husband was partners with one. He seemed to think that Feds were annoying and what not, but I set him straight. He would like to meet you, you know. He is under the impression I just made you up out of the blue!" Tony laughed, patting Zelda's head, which was now in his lap, the dog licking her chops as she stole his last slice of bread.

The banging of a door interrupted them, causing the couple to look up and over at the front of the house.

Alex Smith looked quite a bit different then when Tony had worked with him.

His hair which used to be peppered with silver, was now all a dark grey, only specks of the old black color shown. Tan skin was more leathery than before, crinkled near his eyes, which were still the same vivid blue they had always been and were filled with laughter, aside from the dark shadows which screamed of haunted memories.

"Tony." He greeted when he saw the younger man, and clamped a hand on his shoulder. "You're here." There was no mistaking the pleasure in his voice, and Tony smiled when he heard it, feeling an incredible warm feeling expand on his chest.

"You sick of me already?" he asked lightly and Alex laughed, ruffling his hair. Again, it was something Tony would kill anyone else for doing- but it was Alex so he let it go.

He really needed to quit being such a pushover at times.

"Never." Alex grinned and accepted a tray from his wife as he sat down next to his ex-partner. "How are things going? Particular reason for your surprise visit?"

"Jeez. Maybe I just missed you." Tony told him and laughed at the raised eyebrow that he was given in return. "Alright, so I've had a rough week."

"Was it kids?" Alex asked sympathetically and Tony winced.

"It wasn't a case." He admitted and this time Scarlett popped her head back in with narrowed eyes.

"Gibbs?" she asked and from the kitchen, you could hear the very scary sound of a knife being sharpened.

"Uh…Well, in a way I guess." He told them cautiously and laced his fingers together. "It was mainly Ducky's doing. He got everyone curious about how Gibbs and I met." He shrugged and Alex leaned back, patting his leg so Zelda got up from Tony and trotted over to him.

"People pestering you about it?" he asked warily and Tony shook his head.

"No, we just kind of sat down and told the story."

Worried blue eyes latched onto him and Tony gave a reassuring smile.

"They liked the part where I slammed Gibbs face into a wall." He told him lightly and Alex snorted, and shook his head.

"Is that the part you guys are at?" he asked and Tony shook his head.

"No, we're finished. But everyone else is waiting to hear about my first case at NCIS now. Apparently Ducky and Abby promised we'd hear about that one too. I wanted to know if you could drop on by later?" he said, making the last sentence into more of a question.

"Sure, you never give me any good details about stuff anyways." Alex said, slight suspicion latching in his voice and Tony laughed.

"I do too." He argued and grinned as the suspicious look on his friend's face grew "Alright, alright. My co-workers want to meet you. I believe Ziva's words were something along the lines of 'I will meet him. Dot.'"

"Dot?"

"She meant period, but still isn't up to par with American terms." He chuckled and his ex-partner snorted, petting the top of Zelda's head.

"Well, that should be fun." He stated "Meeting these co-workers I hear so much about…" he snickered "Just call me when you start so I can come. Not like I can do anything around here anyway."

"Excuse me Alexander Smith?" Scarlett said, poking her head back in "I can name a few things you can do around here. Perhaps picking up your laundry every once in a while? Or cooking? Or cleaning?"

"I picked up my laundry last week!"

"Well here's the thing sweetheart, since you wear clothes every day, it becomes a daily thing." Scarlett laughed, throwing a spoon at her husband.

"Yeah, Alex." Tony joined "Get with the program, jeez."

"Thank you Anthony." Scarlett grinned as Alex gave a cry of outrage at his friend's betrayal.

"Sorry Al, but your wife is much scarier than you." Tony confessed and stretched as he got up, looking around the room. "Well, I got to get back." He sighed "We have a case, and I told everyone I'd meet them at the crime scene. Though I already know the wife did it." He smirked and Scarlett nodded approvingly.

"Well Alex, when you die at least you know that Tony will know the truth."

"How comforting." Alex grumbled to his wife and the NCIS agent laughed, waving merrily as he exited the door.

"Shalom!" he called over his shoulder and Scarlett shook her head.

"Shalom? Where does he pick up these things?"

* * *

In the end…Tony got fifty bucks. Ten from Abby, McGee, Jimmy, Ziva, and the sheriff who worked on the case with them.

It was the wife.

How very cliché. Tony didn't mind though as his friends paid up, grumbling half-heartedly.

"One day Probie Wan Kenobi" Tony smiled as he snatched the bill out of McGee's hand "You will understand women, and know the wife shall always be suspect number one."

"Please." Tim muttered under his breath and Tony's smile got wider.

"You don't have to believe me." He told him with a shrug "That just means I get more money."

"Stop. You are running  
me up a wall." Ziva growled at them from her desk as she glared at her report.

"Driving up a wall Zee."

"Driving? Who on heavens would drive up a wall?" she asked and Tim grinned at the second butchered American expression.

"You might." Tony told her seriously and Ziva considered.

"Perhaps if we needed to get over one, yes." She nodded solemnly and the remaining agents grinned at their teammate.

"MCGEE! ZIVA! TONY!" Abby yelled, grabbing Tim's hands and propelling him forward. "AUTOPSY! NOW!"

"Ow." Tony groaned "My ears."

"They are busting." Ziva complained.

"Bursting." McGee corrected and Ziva gave them each a cold look.

"Come on." Abby told them, arms crossed.

"Hold your horses." Tony told her as they all scrambled forward, not noticing the strange look Ziva gave him.

"Horses." She said to herself "Not hippos…"

* * *

Abby was bouncing as she led her friends down to Autopsy, not seeming to have a worry in the world. Her green eyes were lit with excitement as she entered waving merrily to Ducky and Jenny who were all solemnly in discussion.

"What are you three doing in here?"

"Ducky! We're going to tell the story remember? Now where's Palmer and Gibbs?" she asked, marching around to gather chairs around an autopsy table.

"Uh…Jimmy is…busy." Tony spoke up quickly "He had to go down to legal and get some stuff straightened out, no biggie." He grinned and everyone turned to him and shrugged, not noticing Tony's breath of relief. Pulling out his phone he quickly sent out a message.

_Come to autopsy ASAP, I covered for you this time. Where the Hell are you anyways?_

Snapping the phone shut, he tucked it back into his pocket and yawned, as Ducky talked on the telephone loudly.

"Ah! Jethro, I just wanted to reach you because… Oh…I see…Hmm…Yes? Is that so? Well…Alright then. Come on down here." He told the phone and set it down.

"That the Boss?" McGee asked as he leaned his head on the table from exhaustion.

"Yes, Jethro is on his way down." Ducky smiled and settled himself down into a chair next to Jenny. At that moment, Jimmy rushed in, the doors swooshing open dramatically as he made his entrance. Tony noticed with mild amusement that his hair was mused and face flushed like he had ran a marathon. Three guesses on where the younger man had _really_ been. Tony shook his head, making a mental note to confront his friend and find out what- or rather who he was doing. If Jimmy had trusted the agent to cover for him, he would have to trust him to know the truth as well. Which Tony was sure would make for a _very_ interesting story.

"Mr. Palmer! How kind of you to join us." Ducky greeted at his assistant's bashful smile and shook his head.

"Where's Agent Gibbs?" he asked and Ziva jerked her head towards the door.

"He will be coming soon." she told him and began to pick dirt out of her nails with her knife, barely noticing McGee's exasperated eye roll at the movement. "I could always use it to stab you McGee." she said flatly and the younger man instantly looked taken aback.

"So, how's this story compared to the last?" Tim recovered, looking brightly at his assembled team.

"Better!" Abby jumped in, beaming "I can't believe we haven't thought of telling you all this before! Tony was _so_ adorable when he first came to us! You know those cute lambs? He was like that! Except he would be a cute lamb that would be decked out in cool shades and fancy ties- you know- the works." The agent in question blinked, looking slightly taken back at the less than flattering comparison. He wondered briefly if this was what it was like having a crazy sister or mom cooing humiliatingly over you with other family members or friends. His mind then skipped to wondering if his own sister and mother would have done anything like that if they had lived long enough.

"Lambs do not wear sunglasses." Ziva commented idly from the side, frowning as she tried to picture the scenario. "At least not the ones in Israel. This is not an American term, no?"

"Nope." Abby told her, popping out the 'p' "If lambs _did_ wear shades though, that would be the Tony lamb."

"Why am I being compared to a lamb? How about something a little more manly please? Lion? Wolf? Bear?"

"Maybe a bear cub." Abby grinned.

"Cub?! Why do I have to be a cub?!" Tony asked outraged and the Goth giggled enthusiastically.

"Well, Gibbs is obviously the Papa Bear." she beamed and the rest of the group rolled their eyes, aside from Ducky who was smirking with twinkling eyes.

"Could I be a panther then?" the SFA tried again and McGee snorted.

"A panther? Why would you want to be a panther?"

"Two words McIgnorant. Pink. Panther." he said and flopped out of his chair to demonstrate a series of spy moves as he hummed the theme song. "Duh dun. Duh dun. Duh dun, duh dun, duh dun, duh dun, duhhh dunnnn. Da, da, dun, dun!" Tony sang, trying to turn his last move into a somersault when he hit a pair of legs and stumbled over, looking up innocently at the raised eyebrows that were now directed at him.

"Hey there Boss. I see you made it." he greeted from the ground and waved merrily and the lead agent.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Abby started it." he laughed and hoisted himself up in order to try to regain his image of a mature federal agent for his Boss' sake. Gibbs, for his part, looked over at the rest of the group who was laughing, or in Ducky and Jenny's case, chuckling fondly as the lead agent shook his head, far from understanding what was going on.

"Alright then, everyone ready?" Abby asked, looking around excitedly. When a group of nods came around she patted her legs as a drumroll and gestured to Ducky who took a sip of his Earl Grey tea.

"Ah, yes. So out story now starts the Monday morning after Anthony's hiring. Now let me tell you, for most people, their first days here at NCIS is nothing above boring. Paper work and what not. Of course though, this _is_ Anthony now, so-"

"Hey! What's that supposed to-"

"Shhh!" a group of people snapped.

"Hmph."

"As I was saying. Dear Anthony's first day was nothing short of exciting. And our poor, dear Jethro had no idea what he was about to get into..."

* * *

**And for my lovely new readers, neither do you! Now as I said before, this story is a sequel to my Baltimore Beginnings. The first time I wrote this chapter, I tried to make it in a way that you could read the story without having to read this first one butttt... I didn't like it. So here's the highlights you should know from it-**

**-In Baltimore Beginnings it was about the team finding out how Gibbs and Tony met, Ducky being the story teller and a lot of flashbacks being used to tell you, the readers, what happened.**

**-Tony's first partner was Alex Smith, who retired after his two daughters (both close friends of Tony) were murdered by a suspect they were after in the case he and Tony were working on with Gibbs.**

**-Tony's past includes his mother dying of lung cancer and him having a twin sister named Amelia who was killed (no known how...yet) when he was 12 years old before being shipped off to military school. (Both plausible scenarios if you think about it :P)**

**-Umm...Oh yeah! Sam Gavotte (or also known as Scotts or err...'Whatever his name is') is an OC of mine that works on Gibbs team for now. He is supposed be a small, private, easily scared man, who fears Gibbs and Abby. His partner is Vivan Blackadder, who is from the show (: (she was fired after the third episode I believe).**

**-Scarlett, is Alex's wife and a close friend to Tony...**

**And I really think that's it. Personally, I would recommend you reading the first one but if not, here are the highlights! If you I write something that confuses you, just leave it in a review for me and I'll PM you back with an explanation (: Remember to leave me lots of comments! I love them!**

**Love,**

**Kensi (: **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2~

***Ten Years Ago***

Tony was going to be sick. How else could he explain that fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach? He had to have the flu or something…because he sure as Hell wasn't nervous.

Ha! As if. Being nervous was _so _two jobs ago. Tony was nervous when he went to Ohio State. He was nervous on his first day on the job at Peoria. But Philly? Baltimore? Not nervous.

And he wasn't nervous now. Nope. Absolutely not. Not even a chance of it. Nope, nope, nope…. Definitely not.

Umm…Right?

There was no reason to feel this way! Tony already had it all planned out in his head. He was going to work at NCIS for two years, learn everything he could from Gibbs…and scram. That was the master plan.

Gripping his steering wheel harder, the ex-detective took a few deep breaths, trying to focus on the task of driving instead. He was being totally illogical right now. There was _nothing_ to feel nervous about- not that he was- and even if there was (which he wasn't), then he was a full grown adult and should be able to suck it up.

Maybe he shouldn't have accepted Gibbs' offer. Him? A federal agent? The very thought of it was quite laughable. Tony wasn't one to follow rules, it was ironic enough he had enforced them for years, but for him to be a government employed cop? It was almost preposterous.

Pulling his car into the NCIS parking lot, he hopped out and straightened his suit. It was new and the man found it slightly uncomfortable. In Baltimore he'd only worn suits when he went to court, the rest of the time it was jeans and some kind of shirt. Did Feds where these things _all_ the time? Frowning, Tony looked at his reflection in the car and fixed his hair, deciding even though the suit felt weird and yucky, it at least looked pretty good on him, and in Tony's experiences, image matters.

_You got this DiNozzo_, he told himself, trying to mimic his college coach's pep talk voice in his head, _what could possibly go wrong?_

Oh, those famous last words.

* * *

***Present***

"Wow Tony…You sounded kind of nervous there." McGee smiled and the SFA scowled at him.

"Um. No. No I was not probie." He snapped and looked around before asking "Where's Jenny?" somewhere along the way, the Director had slipped out, doing who knows what.

"Don't know, don't care." Gibbs yawned and leaned back in his chair, letting his bones crack a little at being stretched. Huh. Maybe he was getting old…Nah.

"Why do I feel this is going to turn disastrous?" Ziva asked lightly and Tony chuckled.

"In the story? You feel that way because it did turn disastrous."

"Aw, it wasn't that bad." Gibbs told him, though a small smile was creeping onto his lips. Whether he was grinning at the memory or the fact he even could remember was unknown.

"Ha! Easy for you to say."

"How was it, in any way, easy for me? I was the one who had to drag your ass _back_." Gibbs threw at him and Tony shrugged.

"You didn't have to deal with Scott."

"Scott?"

"Yeah, that evil little son of a bitch…" Tony glowered and Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"You mean Scott the-?"

"Don't! I don't want to talk about him anymore." Tony said, making a face of clear dislike as Abby smiled at him in amusement.

"I kind of liked Scott myself."

"Abby, that isn't funny. Don't even joke about something like that."

"He was kind of cute."

"Abby!"

"Sorry, sorry!" she grinned and gestured to Ducky "Go on dear sir." She told him and the elderly doctor nodded and tipped his imaginary hat towards her.

"Well, as I was saying. Anthony had just arrived at NCIS…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"ID please." Tony looked up at the stout man in front of him. He was about twice Tony's size in every way possible. Fortunately, the newest agent wasn't easily intimidated.

"Here you go." He smiled and passed over his driver's license. The last time Tony had been here, he had met another security guard by the name of Mick, and quickly befriended him. Shame that the man wasn't here now.

"Well Anthony DiNozzo." The guard said reading his name off the card sarcastically "Thank you for that, but I'm going to need more if you want to get inside."

"More?" Tony asked in confusion.

"More. If you are visiting, you need a visitor's pass."

"Oh, well I'm an agent. " Tony told him, holding out his hand for his ID again. At his comment the buff man simply raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Really? Well then, I need to see your badge."

"I don't have one. I-"

"You don't _have_ one?" the guard snorted. "Well then, it seems as though you can't get in _Agent_ DiNozzo."

"Um. Excuse me, but if you had let me _finish_ then you would know that I'm new here and I get my badge and ID made today." Tony snapped out, growing both impatient and annoyed.

"What a shame since you need it now."

Oh for the love of…

"Listen. I'm just trying to stay out of trouble for my first week. Walking in late on the first day isn't exactly a great way to start off. Can you please just let me through and-"

"Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to either going to have to escort you out or you leave willingly."

"What!? No! Come on, just call my Boss! He'll tell you! Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"Gibbs? Come on now, you don't work for Gibbs kid. He'd eat you alive. Get out of here." Scowling, Tony took the moment to evaluate his options. Finally standing to the side, he flipped open his phone and furiously pressed in the newly learned phone number.

"Gibbs."

"Gibbs! You have to help me! I'm trying to get in the building right now and-"

"The guard won't let you in."

"Yeah! Even though I _told_ him I was-"

"New here and working for me."

"Yeah! Wait, how'd you know that?"

"DiNozzo, turn around." Slowly pulling the phone away from his ear, Tony peered over his shoulder and let his gaze zero in on the older man sipping coffee a few feet away, waving his phone mockingly when he saw Tony looking at him.

"You were watching the whole time?" he asked grouchily as he snapped the phone shut "And you couldn't jump in for a little support?" Gibbs shrugged and nodded in welcome to the security guard.

"Morning Luke." He said pleasantly and jerked his head at Tony "He's with me." The guard nodded and glared as Tony stuck his tongue out at him.

"Be mature DiNozzo." Gibbs told him and Tony blinked, completely shocked that his new Boss had seen him despite the fact his back was facing him. By the looks of it, there was nothing there for him to have seen a reflection of Tony either. Weird.

"Sorry sir." He offered, stumbling after him to keep up as they got onto the elevator.

"Don't call me sir."

"Umm…Sorry Boss?"

"Rule six. Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness."

Well then. This looked as though it was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

"Welcome!" Abby burst towards Tony and hugged him, momentarily causing the man to almost have a heart failure right then and there. The forensic scientist didn't seem to have changed within the three days. Dressed in black leggings with a ripped up skirt and skull shirt, she gave her usual Goth aura.

"Hey Abs." he gasped and she patter his cheek reassuringly. Tony didn't think anyone had ever touched him so much in his life. He wasn't for sure he liked it either.

"Hello to you too! I baked you some cookies! See? See?" she told him, stuffing some into his hand. They were heart shaped with black icing, some with purple polka dots on them. As odd as they were though, Tony was oddly touched.

"Thank you." he told her and watched as she beamed.

"You're going to _love_ it here! Ducky tells stories and then you get to see me and then there's Gibbs who is an awesome Boss and then-"

"Abby." Gibbs interrupted from his desk "He can't work here if he doesn't get started." He said and Abby quickly covered he mouth, turning to her new friend and giving him one more hug. "I'll talk to you more later." She promised "but you have to work."

Tony watched as ran off, wondering what on Earth her parents must have been like…

"Welcome back Tony." The new agent turned and grinned when he saw Vivian Blackadder leaning casually on her desk, sipping coffee out of her cup and offered one to Tony.

"Thanks." He told her warmly, wondering if he ever had received such a warm welcome to any work place before. Well, aside from the run in with Luke that is. "Hey Sam." He added as his other partner strolled in with a small wave and went to the desk across from Viv. Tony frowned, noticing a couple of large boxes placed next it.

"What are those for?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm taking a job with Homeland." He admitted and gave a sheepish grin "Figured it was worth a shot."

"What? When are you leaving?"

"Couple days actually. Had my two week notice a couple weeks ago."

"Wow. I can't believe you are ditching on my first week! Congrats though." Tony laughed shaking his hand. Pausing, he looked around at the remaining desk which was directly next to Gibbs and diagonal from Viv. He considered it for a moment and sat down, looking at the view. With a frown, Tony shook his head and marched over to Vivian's desk and sat down there.

Nope. He didn't like this one either.

Finally, he moved over to Sam's desk and sat. This one was directly across from Viv and diagonal from Gibbs. He could see the whole squad room, and the elevator was in plain sight.

"Umm…Tony?" Sam asked as Tony opened his drawers and helped him put the last of the stuff into the box.

"You're going to that desk." Tony told him, pointing the first desk he had first tried.

"Jeez. Thanks." He said sarcastically and the Italian gave a sideways grin.

"Anytime." He laughed and put his coffee and Abby's cookies on his new spot.

Still smiling, Tony sat down and looked at Gibbs expectantly. When the man still didn't look up from his desk Tony glanced at Vivian who shrugged in reply.

"Gibbs?"

"Hm?"

"What am I supposed to be doing?" His new mentor finally looked over at him with raised eyebrows.

Well what did that mean? He quickly scanned the room for anything obvious that he could do, but unfortunately found none. So he made eye contact with Gibbs again and waited patiently for him to answer.

"Here." He finally said, getting up and dropping what looked to be fifty pounds of paperwork on his desk.

Oh perfect…The dreaded paperwork.

Tony already knew what the dang thing possessed. Papers among papers among papers of boring questions about medical records, jobs, and family history that he _really_ didn't want to answer. Then there were the waver forms, requisition forms, and not to mention his agreement contract to the agency that he'd have to read through.

Somebody needed to shoot him now.

"Um…Is there anything else I could do?" he asked.

"You could walk your ass back to Baltimore." Gibbs offered and Tony scowled and pointedly pulled out the first piece of paper.

_Welcome to NCIS! This packet will go over the procedures and rules you'll need to follow…_

* * *

"He's cute." Agent Lauren Taylor stated as she peered a few feet away from the bullpen.

"I can't believe Gibbs brought back _that_. Morrow gives him a chance to pick his own team, and look what he picks. A LEO!" Mark Hemmings snorted with disgust as he watched the new agent fill out a form.

"Maybe Gibbs is secretly gay and wanted a lover." Lauren grinned and her friend shook his head.

"Really? I highly doubt Gibbs is gay. He's been married three times."

"I heard it was eight."

"I heard he divorced the second because he found out she was dying her hair red and it wasn't her natural color."

"I heard he went to prison once, but killed all the guards and escaped."

"Ha! I bet you that one is true." Mark laughed and then looked over at DiNozzo again "You know his story?" he asked, jerking his head towards him.

"Nothing is set in stone, but the scuttlebutt is saying he's a rich boy playing cops and robbers. Gibbs picked him up from Baltimore."

"Go figure. He looks like the stuck up type."

"Yeah, but Gibbs wouldn't pick up someone who didn't have a chance."

"Probably got paid."

"Mark. This is _Gibbs_. Do you honestly think he'd pick up someone who didn't have potential? Remember when SecNav tried to pay him off to get his daughter on his team? He said no." Lauren said in a low whisper.

"I still don't know. Maybe we should test him later. See if he's up to the job."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Lauren asked nervously as she twirled a strand of light brown hair and her friend laughed, giving a sly wink before walking away. Worriedly, Lauren wondered what Mark had just planned. He usually didn't mean to, but he tended to make things get out of hand fast- she was sure the last thing this probie needed was him causing problems.

But then again… It _would_ be interesting to see what this kid could do. This is the first person _ever_ to be handpicked by the legendary Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Maybe he should give them a little taste on what he was capable of. She supposed nothing could get _too_ out of control.

After all, Mark couldn't _possibly_ plan something that would get any of them in too much trouble.

Right?

* * *

Vivian Blackadder was trying to keep her mind focused. She really, truly honestly was. The only problem was, her new partner kept catching her attention.

She wasn't for sure why, but for some reason the little things he did, like rubbing the back of his neck and tapping his fingers would cause her mind to get side tracked.

Finally, after Gibbs had left, she managed to pinpoint it.

Rex. The new agent was practically a doppelganger for her dead little brother. The same eyes, face, and attitude all rolled up into one. The thought made the agent's heart sink with unresolved sadness. Her brother's death was something she wasn't for sure she would ever really get over- especially if the damn terrorist who killed him wasn't caught.

"Need help?" she finally asked, giving into the familiar feeling that was beginning to wash over her. Tony had the same look Rex did whenever he didn't understand something about his Math homework.

"No…Yes….Maybe." Tony told her, glaring at the form. "Why is a next-of-kin required?"

"What do you mean why? We need to know who to call if you get hurt." She answered skeptically at the stupid question.

"Well duh. But why would you need to call anyone?"

"So your family would know you're injured! Not to mention they have to make all those medical decisions."

"What if you don't have any?" Tony asked shyly and at her sharp look, quickly backtracked "Not that I _don't_, I mean, everyone has family. I just mean what if I don't have any family that lived close to me? I'm pretty sure that none of my relatives could make medical decisions from New York, England, or Italy." He explained and nervously tapped his desk.

"What about Alex?" Sam suggested as he attempted to pull his desk drawer open. Unfortunately for him though, it was stuck and refused to open.

"Nah. He is supposed to stay away from stress and I have a bit of a reputation of causing just that with my medical records." He smirked and Vivian laughed.

"Alright then, hand them over."

"Over where?"

"Where do you think? I'll sign them." She offered and almost rolled her eyes when Tony edged her way cautiously towards her. He looked as if he half expected her to thrust them back at him and yell 'NOT'.

"Thanks." He said still suspicious and this time, she really did roll her eyes.

"Did you know you look like Robyn Lively?"

"Who?"

"She's an actress. She was in Letters to God and Teen Witch. You look just like her." Tony told her, pulling his chair so he was closer to her desk. "Letters to God was pretty good. I liked the plot at least, but Teen Witch is just plain dumb. Well, it was an okay idea in _theory_, but it came out all wrong." He explained and animatedly began using his hands to enlighten her on his opinion on both films.

"…and then BAM! It was like, over. I could _not_ believe they would end it that way. I mean, you're supposed to have some kind of resolution in a movie- guess they kind of forgot that in this one." The Italian finished, shaking his head in clear disappointment.

With a small smile, Vivian handed back the newly signed medical papers to him.

"Thanks." He beamed, sincerity touching his tone. "Want to do the rest for me?"

"No thanks." She snorted and suddenly, DiNozzo's eyes brightened as he turned to Sam, whom had fallen back when his drawer burst open.

"Hey Sam…Want to do me a favor?"

* * *

When Gibbs walked in, he wasn't for sure what to think of what. Sam was apparently filling out DiNozzo's paperwork, his desk drawer thrown across the room. Viv was filling out more medical paperwork for DiNozzo while the agent in question was looking at a pile of cold cases he must have found in his partners' desks.

"Did you interview Robinson?" Tony asked conversationally from over the file.

"Why would we?" Sam asked "He had no ties to the victim."

"Yeah, but he still could have been hired." Tony commented and Gibbs walked over and snatched the file from his hands. "Oh…Hi Gibbs."

"I thought _you_ were supposed to fill those out?" he asked as Sam called from his desk.

"Hey Tony? What's your social security number?"

Looking slightly shamed face, the younger man held out his hands guiltily.

"Well…I got a little bored. And I thought I could help with one of Sam's cold cases…" Leaning over, Gibbs smacked him in the back of the head, turning to Sam and Vivian.

"Give him the damn papers back." He shot at them and Viv held up a finger.

"Let me just put the rest of my contact information down." She muttered and Gibbs sighed, reaching over to grab the papers away "Hey!" she snapped at him "I'm not done yet!"

"Another word and you will be." Her boss warned and strolled over to Sam, yanking the rest of the papers from his hands and throwing them all at Tony. The new agent looked sadly at them, and then longingly at cold case in Gibbs' hands.

"You know…I was getting somewhere with that case." He tried hopefully and his Boss moved as if to hand the file back to him, but instead ended up hitting upside the head with it.

"Well maybe once you finish those papers you might get it back." He said and Tony glared at the forms again, cursing them for not being interesting.

Alright. Round two with Tony vs. NCIS documents.

It was on.

* * *

**Hey everyone (: Couple things I have to say here so I should probably get started.**

**Alright, so first I'm going to apologize for this chapter. It is slow, choppy, and short. I guess it isn't horrible, but I felt really bad making you guys wait so long for this and then give you a not so wonderful chapter. I promise you the next update will be better! **

**Speaking of which, my life has hit a bit of a...bump I guess you might say. So as most of you know, I'm fifteen. I know for you guys, fifteen doesn't seem like too much of a busy age but...I guess you'll have to take my word for it when I say I have e****xtenuating ****circumstances. I am planning on this thing that is happening to me not to affect you guys at all. My updates will be the same, and hopefully my quality of work. However, know that there may be a time where I have to disappear for awhile. I have someone right now who I found out is very sick and she needs me. Like I said, this shouldn't affect you guys all that much, but the truth is that this person doesn't have anybody- including a father- so I need to make sure she is my number one priority. Hopefully though, she'll get better soon and none of that will happen...**

**Well, that's about all. Updates will hopefully be coming soon.**

**Love,**

**Kensi**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3~

***Ten Years Ago***

Gibbs needed coffee.

Which wasn't new by any means, but now the NCIS agent's need was greater than usual. What the _Hell_ had he been thinking when he had hired DiNozzo? He couldn't think of one agent- not _one_- that exhausted him to this extent.

…And the kid had only been at work for five hours. How the heck was he supposed to handle the other four?

"Done!" the gleeful cry was heard from across the bullpen as the agent in question threw down his pen and gave a satisfied look at his work. "No más papel!" he beamed and Gibbs wondered what the reaction would be once he brought out the other three files the kid was supposed to fill out.

Unfortunately though, his news was postponed when Tony decided to pop up another question instead.

"Hey Gibbs… When do we have lunch?" From their respective desks, Vivian and Sam looked up, both with identical looks of shock. The thoughts were clear on their faces- _He's done for._

It was kind of sad really, that his agents were _that_ scared of him that they wouldn't ask if they could eat. Gibbs hoped that DiNozzo didn't follow in their footsteps.

"Right now." He said, looking down at his watch and nobody moved. Tony looked around skeptically, probably waiting for someone to announce where they usually went out to eat. Truth be told though, Gibbs never really announced official 'breaks' and his agents would never ask. As a result, they would just bring in their own food to eat at their desks throughout the day.

"Um…Alright then." Tony continued at the lack of response. "I'm just going to…Go pick up some food." He finished awkwardly while Sam and Viv exchanged worried looks, still watching Gibbs as though they expected him to blow.

It didn't happen though, as Gibbs simply opted to continue typing on his computer, not giving the slightest retort at anything that had just happened.

"So…We're going to go out too?" Sam asked and Gibbs thought evilly of how fun it would be to tell him no, when his phone rang, demanding his attention.

"Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs." Cynthia's voice came through the earpiece "The director would like to see you."

"Be right there." He told her and hung up, glancing down again at his watch. "Going to go see the director. You have thirty minutes." He told them and almost smiled as he watched the two scramble.

"You do realize that lunch break has always been there?" he asked flippantly and marched over towards the Director's office.

* * *

No sooner had Anthony DiNozzo's file been closed before it was reopened and reread again, this time being the sixth in a row.

Tom Morrow simply did not understand it! He had sat in this very office, working with anyone who would be willing to go onto Gibbs' team, bargaining and begging, going as far as to make agents submit their personality test so that he could weed out _anyone_ who might be able to work with the man!

Then, the moment Morrow _finally_ gave in and allowed the man to pick his own agents, he brings back the very _last _person the NCIS Director would expect.

A local _cop_. Of all things. Not only that, but one with a loud mouth, reckless streak, and a name that meant trouble. What on Earth was his agent thinking? To have someone like Anthony DiNozzo become an agent?

"Director." Well, Morrow supposed now he would have the chance to ask the man himself.

"Agent Gibbs." He greeted and took a seat at his desk, shifting through multiple files to get back to the one that was on top and placed it gingerly in front of Gibbs, tapping it with his index finger.

"Anthony DiNozzo." He started and Gibbs said nothing, not touching the file before meeting his eyes and nodding.

"Yes sir."

"I don't understand. I sent you the best agents- What does this kid have they don't?" he asked and Tom could already see about a million smartass remarks beginning to fly through agent's mind.

"Can't really list them all out." He finally settled with and the director rolled his eyes.

"He sounds like a handful."

Gibbs let out a light scoff and ran a hand over his face, giving the impression that the light comment was an understatement.

"Oh yeah. Handful sounds about right." He said and Morrow raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair as he decided to be frank about the whole thing.

"Jethro, I don't know anything about this kid- or what on earth possessed you to bring him here. I don't need to know. What I _do_ need to know is if you have enough patience for this, and if he's worth it."

"I think he'd make a good agent."

"Doesn't answer my question."

"Yeah…I think he's worth it."

* * *

Tony swears that he was trying to stay out of trouble. Cross his heart. He went straight the Deli a few blocks away to get food and was coming straight back. Honest.

Of course, he _was_ Anthony DiNozzo after all, and that name was said to have literally translated to 'trouble magnet'. Which was why he wasn't all _that_ surprised to see the burning building that was nearby.

"Damn." He muttered and pulled over. Part of him reasoned that he wasn't a fire fighter, and should move his ass along and ignore the crying and injured people all together. The other part of him told him to shut up and pull the stupid car over. Sitting back had never been much of his style anyway.

"Sir, I need you to stand back." A man spoke as Tony popped out of the car. Rolling his eyes, Tony flipped out his temporary badge that Gibbs had given him until his new one was made and thrust it at the guy.

"NCIS Special agent Anthony DiNozzo." He told him "What can I do?" The man's face quickly morphed from annoyance to relief as he nodded warily.

"Thank God. Sorry Agent DiNozzo, I thought you might have been another gawker. We have it mostly covered here. Injured are over there, and the unscathed to your right. We got everyone out so-"

"JACOB!" Tony jumped, hearing a horrified scream and let his hand instantly fall to his gun. A woman had suddenly stood up, her face chalk white as she screamed bloody murder.

"Aw, shit." The man who was talking to Tony muttered and ran over, trying to restrain the woman as she attempted to run into the building which was now engulfed in flames.

"No! No! My baby's in there! Jacob ran back in! JACOB!" Looking around, Tony saw the group of firefighters scrambling in attempt to reassemble. From above, there was an echoing crack of the first of the building beginning to fall… They weren't going to make it.

Shedding off his jacket, Tony wondered what was with him and having that damn hero complex before running in.

* * *

***Present Time***

"What the Hell? Tony!" McGee cried as he choked on his coke that he'd been drinking.

"What?" the agent in question responded, looking completely offended by the tone his friend had used.

"You ran into a burning building. That was about to fall." Abby supplied helpfully "and also lied to get into the scene."

"I didn't lie!"

"Well Anthony, you weren't exactly Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo yet were you? You were _Probationary_ Agent DiNozzo, so not really an agent at all."

"Probie." McGee added with a slight smirk and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Senior Field Agent." He corrected and jumped when the autopsy doors unexpectedly slid open. Turning around, the group saw Jenny walk back, a satisfied smirk on her lips. Next to her was a graying man, with his arm around a petite looking woman who grinned when she saw them all.

"Tony!" she beamed and pushed her husband away so she could embrace the man.

"Hey. So you finally made it." He laughed as she let go and grinned at Alex who was standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Finally? I'm proud to say I made within ten minutes flat. You should be impressed Rookie."

"I would have been impressed if you picked up a pizza along the way."

"Why? Are you hungry?" Scarlett suddenly fussed "Did you eat breakfast this morning?"

"Scarlett, you already fed him today." Alex told her and the older woman frowned as she took in her surrogate son's appearance critically. "You look skinny." She frowned and Tony smiled, trying not to roll his eyes.

"How did you get in here?" he asked "You were supposed to call so I could escort you up."

"Well, after you texted me…Sorry I didn't respond by the way, I didn't really know how to get it to work."

"I did." Scarlett cut in "but he never listens to me."

"No you didn't! Anyways, we got here and I was about to call you-"

"Actually I was, because my husband doesn't know how to work a phone that has a touch screen."

"I do too! Ugh, as I was saying. Director Shepherd just appears and brings us up, like she was waiting for us the whole time." Alex finished and Tony threw a questioning look at Jenny, which she returned with a small smile.

Realizing after a couple seconds that introductions were in order, Tony quickly turned to the rest of the group.

"Alright, um…Guys this Alex and Scarlett Smith. Alex, Scarlett, you remember Gibbs, Abby, and Ducky? Well, this is Jimmy, Ziva, Tim, and you met the Director already." He introduced and his three friends perked up as they studied over the couple with great interest.

"So _you're _Ziva!" Scarlett beamed "Tony never told me how pretty you were!"

Oh dear lord…

"Uhh…Scarle-"

"…and you're Tim? Huh. You were right Tony…Sweetie, we need to get you a decent meal. How much have you been eating?" Scarlett asked skeptically and Tim gave a look of pure bewilderment.

"What? How much have I…? Well, I…Um…" From the corner Tony cleared his throat, his cheeks already flaming in what had to be embarrassment. Ziva was smirking, her eyes already telling him that she was planning on spending lots of time with his ex-partner and wife.

"Scarlett…" he said quietly, giving her a look that was similar to one of a kicked puppy. "Can we _please_ move on?" the elderly woman rolled her eyes, but nevertheless turned to the rest of the group and smiled.

"Alright. I suppose I can finish talking with all of you later…We have plenty of time for that." She added with a small smirk in Tony's direction. Beside the agent, Alex clapped a hand sympathetically on his shoulder, looking slightly amused as he did so.

"Where were you guys?" he asked gruffly, looking around discreetly at his friend's coworkers with a critical eye.

"Um… The part where Tony just ran into a burning building."

"I'm sorry. He did _what_?" Scarlett sputtered out before Alex gave her a side look and shook his head. The woman paused as though she wanted to argue, but kept silent after sending both her husband and Tony an incredulous look.

"Yes." Ziva said, obviously enjoying her team mate's discomfort "He was just driving by and decided to run into a burning building."

"There was someone inside." Tony added with far less bravado than he would usually. In fact, if anything, he looked slightly nervous.

Gibbs smirked to himself from the opposite side of the room. He had remembered Scarlett and Alex vaguely, and mostly associated them in good terms. However, he couldn't help but notice a small and unpleasant emotion flickering around inside of him as he saw the three of them together- though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Shrugging the thoughts away, he figured he should just be grateful that Scarlett Smith was here to keep the agent quiet for more than five minutes.

"Well!" Ducky chortled, pleasure eliciting his face as he clapped his hands together "I suppose now we can continue with our new guests! I believe that it was a half an hour later when Jethro received his first of many calls regarding Anthony…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"He did _what_?" Gibbs yelled over the phone, letting his newly refilled coffee fall from his hand and splash dramatically to the floor. Vivian and Sam had just returned and froze as their boss's face flushed with anger.

"And who was the _idiot_ who let him in? Why would a _Navy_ cop go and investigate a _civilian_ fire?" There was a pause in which some panicked squabbling was heard from the other end. Gibbs looked at his phone with uttermost disgust, throwing it to the side without responding.

"Stay." He snapped at his two agents and hit the elevator door with more force than particularly necessary.

One day. DiNozzo hadn't even been here a _full_ day and he had gotten into trouble. Hell, it wasn't even technically at work. He was on God damn lunch break!

For what seemed to be the billionth time today, Gibbs wondered what he had done to himself.

The fire itself wasn't too hard to find. All Gibbs had to do was follow the sirens and smoke. As it turned out, finding Tony hadn't been too difficult either.

He was at the top of the building.

The little son of a…. Seriously?! How does something like this even _happen_? Scowling, Gibbs felt himself rush out of the car and push pass guards with a mere flip of his ID.

"That your boy up there?" one of the men asked and Gibbs recognized it as the man who he had been on the phone with earlier.

"Is there anyone else up there with him?" Gibbs asked, choosing to ignore the first question.

"Yeah. Six year old little boy. The woman screamed that her son went back inside and the kid scrambled in there and grabbed him- they bottom part of the building fell off though so he kept climbing so he could hand the boy off to them." The man said gesturing to the men on the ladder. Gibbs felt the tension in his body loosen a bit when he saw both the little boy and Tony get on, slowly getting closer to the ground below, which had been covered with a blow up mattress in case they had decided to jump.

Good. Gibbs needed the kid in good condition. Not because he gave a damn about his wellbeing, but because he was going to commit murder the moment he saw him again. Didn't the kid know that he was becoming an investment of Gibbs' personal time? He didn't have time to go saving him whenever the guy got into trouble.

Which was why his heart almost stopped when the ladder broke.

* * *

Tony seriously needed to locate himself a rabbit's foot. Or one of those cool four leaf clovers…He never could find any of those when he was a kid.

Either way, he needed one because he was so freakin _unlucky_. All and all grabbing the kid inside the building had been the easy part. He escaped with minimal burning that would barely be noticeable over the next couple of days. Piece of cake right?

Of course not. Because of all things in the world to happen, the _ladder_ broke.

_Really?_ One may ask.

Yes. Really. And it took all of the young agent's training to make sure the little boy who had been squirming in his arms seconds before, had gone into the fire fighters hands, who was fortunately on the stable part of the ladder.

Which left him to spiral downward. Tony could vaguely make out the screaming that was ringing in the background over the rush of wind in his ears. He felt like a ragdoll, jerked around as he flailed wildly for something- _anything_ to hold into, but to no prevail.

Tony knew enough science to be fairly positive he wasn't going to die. The building he had just climbed off of was about 100 feet up, and he was about half way down when the ladder broke, making him falling roughly fifty feet onto the mattress below.

Ugh…That was going to hurt…A lot. Bracing himself for the landing, Tony almost didn't notice that everything suddenly went black. He was still simply waiting for the blowing pain to come.

Slowly, the man became aware that a soft trickle of aches were flowing through his body, and that many voices were clouding around him. If panicked whispers were fuel, the human footprint would have just doubled in size.

"Sir? Agent DiNozzo." Someone was saying and an annoying poke went to his arm. "Agent DiNozzo." The person tried again and this time Tony wanted to tell whoever it was to shut up and leave him alone. The pain was getting more intense and all Tony wanted to right now was sleep.

"Get out of the way." Someone else muttered and the ex-detective almost jerked awake at the sound of it. No…His luck couldn't be _that_ bad. "DiNozzo. I am not paying you to sleep around. You're already twenty minutes late."

Yep. His luck apparently could be that bad. Groaning, the Italian allowed his eyes to flicker open slightly to reveal his Boss looking down disapprovingly at him.

"Hey Gibbs." He mumbled and felt someone else jerk next to him.

"Agent DiNozzo, my name is Scott." The guy told him and grabbed his arm so he sat up straight dizzily. "I'm an emergency medical technician alright? Let's get a look at how you're doing…" Shining a bright light into each of his eyes, Tony jerked back and hissed.

Him and Scott were going to have problems.

Unfortunately for him, Gibbs apparently found the need to have grasped his other arm and forced him back towards the rather annoying doctor, who was now attempting to touch his wrist and neck.

"Let go!" Tony snapped, trying to jerk away, but sadly found he was too weak to do much flinch away.

"Quit being a baby." Gibbs muttered from his side and Tony shot him a wary look.

"How did you get here anyways?" he grouched and Gibbs simply raised an eyebrow, telling Tony he really didn't want to know the answer to that question. "Um…I won't get fired for this…Right?" he asked hesitantly and Gibbs shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know. Pretending to have jurisdiction at a crime scene and telling people that you have a higher rank- doesn't make you look too good does it?" Wincing Tony tried to hit Scott when he began to run his fingers through his hair.

"Dude. Maybe if you were like twenty years younger and a chick okay?" he snapped and turned back to his boss. "A kid was in there…The building was collapsing and those people." He said angrily as he gestured towards the firefighters "Were being too slow."

"You don't think I know that?" Gibbs asked sharply "Rest assured, that is the _only_ reason I'm not firing your ass." He claimed and then looked thoughtful for a moment "and next time, you aren't leaving the building alone. I can't even send you out to lunch without something happening. What was the point of hiring you if you're going to die on my on your first week?" Tony opened his mouth to argue, but choked when a thermometer was shoved down his throat.

"Ack!" he coughed and tried to take it out as Scott began to pack some stuff away.

"Alright, Tony? Can you answer some quick questions for me?"

"I'm not five."

"Great. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Count them yourself."

"What's your name?"

"I'm pretty sure you know, considering you just said five seconds ago."

"Do you know the year?"

"I'll buy you a calendar for Christmas." Tony snapped and Scott grimaced slightly before turning to Gibbs.

"He's got a mild concussion. Nothing too serious, though I would recommend taking him to the hospital to double check that. He's also going to be sore for a few days-"

"Well yeah, I had you poking me for ten minutes." Tony huffed under his breath.

"How do you know it's a concussion?" Gibbs cut him off and Scott clicked his tongue.

"Well, the obvious attitude it one symptom-"

"He's always like that." Gibbs offered and Tony blinked in objection. Scott let a small smile grace his lips, but continue his medical spill.

"The dilated pupils and knot on the back of his head are also indications. Like I said, he answered all of the questions… Somewhat coherently, so I'm pretty sure it is small, but like I said, scans would be the most efficient way to check." Nodding thankfully, Gibbs stood up, pulling a now almost unconscious agent with him.

"Hey, stay awake." He said, shaking him slightly.

"Huh? Oh…Hi." Tony muttered and suddenly jumped. "Oh my God Gibbs! The kid! Is he alright? Is he hurt? Did I-?"

"DiNozzo. Shut up. He's fine. His mom told me to tell you she was sending you flowers."

"Hmm…Okay. Just make sure they aren't lilies cause I'm allergic to those." Tony mumbled, drifting back into his stupor. Rolling his eyes Gibbs somehow managed to fling the kid into the car and consider his agent's mustang which was parked to the side of the road. Shrugging, he decided he'd just make the kid walk all the way back here later to pick it up. He seemed in good enough shape.

"Are we going back to the office?"

"Yeah. A concussed agent will do me so much good filling out paperwork." The older man said sarcastically and Tony scowled.

"Where are we going then?"

"I don't know DiNozzo…I would say back to your apartment but…" he turned and gave his agent a look.

It had been an on and off argument ever since Tony was hired. Gibbs had fully expected his newest addition to pack right up and move to DC. Unfortunately, Tony quite liked his apartment with his neighbors who included an eight year old little girl and her grandmother. The newbie was under the impression it was alright to drive three hours to work every morning.

"_Gibbs, I really don't need a new apartment. This one is fine." Tony yawned as he looked at his watch and then back at his boss. He had just been released from the hospital and had creepily found his new employer at his house when he got home._

"_I'll explain this…Again." Gibbs sighed "You are a federal agent now. That means your personal life is dangerous too. Now you need to understand that when someone comes to kill you I don't feel like driving three damn hours to save your sorry ass!"_

"_Alright, alright." Tony pouted and looked around the room "I'll get it up in like a week or so…Maybe a month…or two…" Gibbs pressed his fingers lightly to his temples. Day one hadn't even begun and he wanted to strangle the kid._

"Don't say it." Tony sighed and Gibbs gave a mild smirk.

"I don't need to. Just know that if you aren't out of that apartment by next week, you're fired."

"I'm sure that'll make an interesting report. Fired because he didn't want to move… Hey, if we aren't going to my place, where are we going? You aren't really going to take me to the hospital right? Because I feel fine and…" Gibbs let him prattle away for a couple more minutes. He actually had considered taking the younger man to the hospital, but figured that it could wait until this afternoon. It would give him time to place the phone calls to work and explain why he wasn't going to be there the rest of the day with his new agent.

After replaying his conversation with the director, Gibbs wondered vaguely if this incident proved Morrow's point or his.

"Where are we?" Tony's voice edged its way back into Gibbs head and wordlessly, the other man got out, waiting for DiNozzo to stumble after him. "Is this…Your house?"

Whose house did he _think_ it was? Opening the door, the Agent waited until Tony was inside before directing him towards the guest room and then found himself sitting on the couch, contemplating what the hell to do with him next.

Well, Gibbs thought as he pulled out his phone to start his calls, it wasn't like DiNozzo was five or anything. How much trouble could the kid get in just by being at his house?

* * *

**Hey everyone (: So yeah, I know I've been away for awhile and I want to apologize for that. Hopefully the next chapter should be up much quicker... Maybe I'll start getting to the interesting stuff too. I know you guys must be bored of set up chapters by now. **

**Thank you all for your concerns regarding Felicity's wellbeing. She's doing a lot better now... The doctor's told me that her survival rate just went up past sixty percent which is amazing progress, considering it started out at 30...**

**One last thing I want to address before crashing is this: Before I write I always reread my past chapters (I don't really know why...Probably just to get me back into the flow of the story again) and I noticed at the very end of my AN last chapter I really sounded like a complete bitch. I was actually surprised no one called me out on it. I just wanted to say that I am very sorry about that. I could use the excuse that I was really stressed about Felicity, but that doesn't give me the right to take it out on you guys. **

**So yeah. That's all. I feel like I say this often but I PROMISE the next chapter will be super long and amazing. I'm going to dedicate my saturday night to it (: Love you all!**

**~Kensi**


	4. Chapter 4

~Chapter 4~

***Ten Years Ago***

"Gibbs I am so sorry!" Rubbing his eyes tiredly the Senior Agent gave a look up towards the sky, exhaustion clearly outlining his features.

"I told you DiNozzo. It is okay." He reiterated slowly after Tony's fifteenth apology and continued to pick up the shards of glass off the floor.

"I was just trying to get some water…" the probie said helplessly as he looked at the broken cup. Gibbs rolled his eyes, but didn't comment, simply allowing Tony to kneel across from him and help pick up the pieces that were remaining on the floor.

Tony had been awake for a grand total of five minutes before Gibbs had heard the crashing sound echoing throughout his house. Apparently, the kid's concussion must have gotten him dizzy and he'd dropped the glass. Gibbs was fairly sure that there was almost a heart failure on the list of DiNozzo's injuries when Gibbs had walked in the room. The kid looked scared to death.

"Gibbs I really am sor-"

"Say it again and you're fired."

"Sorry." Tony apologized quickly before he realized what he just said and quickly backtracked "I didn't mean that! Well, I did, but I didn't mean to say it out loud because you told me not to say it again and I don't know why but I just-"

"Breathe Tony."

"Alright." The younger man readily agreed and cursed when a piece of broken glass cut his hand. "Damn it!" he growled and carefully stepped over the rest of the mess and Gibbs to clean the blood off his hand. Once more feeling a pang of irritation at his new recruit's proneness to injuries, the agent finished picking up the rest of the broken cup and walked over to where Tony was trying to find a band aid to keep his hand from bleeding all over the counter.

"Second drawer." he informed the probie stoically and Tony nodded gratefully, pulling out the necessary supplies before turning back to his hand.

Then he froze.

Gibbs watched with mild interest when Tony blinked and watched the blood on his hand continue to flow freely, running to the point it was down his wrist.

"DiNozzo?" he asked and nothing happened. What the Hell? He may not have known the kid for long, but he'd already see him go through more traumatic experiences than a cut hand. "Tony!"

"Huh? Oh... Sorry." The agent said, quickly pulling out of his phase so fast, Gibbs had to wonder if it had ever really been there. Strange…

"Did you get a warranty on me?" Tony crookedly smiled as he fixed his injury with much more expertise than he should have. "I've been breaking easily lately."

"Are you saying you broke?"

"Nope. I'm saying that I can be a bit of a trouble magnet."

"That doesn't surprise me all that much. If it makes you feel better, I didn't get warranty. I figured after two years I'll probably get screwed over anyway." There was a long pause in which both men contemplated the words thoughtfully.

"If you really think that… Why did you even hire me?"

"Because at least I won't have other idiots bothering me for two years. Besides, if I decided I really did want you to stay…I have Abby." A small smile slid onto the Italian's lips as his friend's name was mentioned.

"Touché." He nodded as he finished wrapping his hand and put the medical kit back in the drawer. "Thanks for letting me stay here by the way…" he added and Gibbs simply shrugged and they both stood awkwardly for a moment. Gibbs watching the other man intently while Tony was trying to find something to say.

"Vanessa and Rachel." Gibbs said abruptly and the other man looked up, startled at the two names that came out of his Boss' mouth.

"What about them?" he asked warily, already trying to find a way to change the topic quickly.

"You were looking at your hand earlier…I had a marine buddy of mine do that after his first kill. He felt guilty."

"I don't feel guilty about anything." Tony answered smoothly, moving so that he was faced more towards the exit of the kitchen. Gibbs gave a disbelieving look. "I hate the fact they're gone but…I don't feel like it was, you know… My fault or anything like that."

"Okay." Gibbs told him, a note of disbelief still evident in his tone. Tony looked around cautiously, avoiding eye contact for a moment before turning humorous again.

"Is there anything I can do around here? I'm already bored." He asked lightly and Gibbs shook his head.

"Do you not know what a concussion is? You're supposed to rest."

"Don't believe that. Doctors are conspiring against us. They're trying to make everyone rest all the time so they can take over the world. Haven't you heard?" Tony grinned and Gibbs hoped that it was the concussion talking. Zeroing in on the bottle of meds on the counter, he shoved them towards his agent.

"Here, take these." He muttered and Tony's face went a rapid shade of white.

"Uh…No thanks. You're right, I should probably get some sleep."

"These are supposed to help with that…"

"Yeah, but I don't really need them." Gibbs raised an eyebrow and looked back at his agent with a questioning glance. Why didn't he want to take the medicine?

"Two a day." He read the label out loud and placed the bottle in the other man's hand before stalking out of the room. The kid was weird…

* * *

Gibbs quickly found out the mystery behind the pills. After going back into the kitchen and finding the bottle sealed shut despite Tony's claim to have taken two, he had had to watch the kid like a teacher to make sure he actually swallowed the damn things.

Then… About ten minutes later things got bad.

If you ever seen a squirrel hyped up on sugar and some kind of energy drink… You had a basic visual of Tony after having drugs.

The kid was about as excited and knocked up as one could be on meds.

"Hey…Gibbs… Gibbs… Gibbs…Gibbs…_Gibbs_!"

"_What_?"

"Gibbs!" Tony practically yelled, sounding exasperated "I'm talking to you!" The older man grunted, thinking that the kid was actually yelling rather than talking… "Did you know that people in ancient Egypt thought it was your heart that made you smart, not your brain?"

Never again would Gibbs allow this man into his house. Ever.

"Did you know that the founder of the bank of England may have actually been a pirate? Ironic…"

"Tony…"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." He grumbled and watched as his agent frowned, before accepting the words and remaining silent for a grand total of thirty seconds.

"Where am I?" he asked sounding genially concerned as he looked around the room. Gibbs frowned, now unsure whether it was the concussion or medication that caused this question.

"My house." He answered, putting down his book he had been unsuccessfully trying to read and narrowing his eyes as Tony shifted uneasily.

"Are you sure?" he asked sounding paranoid, looking over his shoulder and towards the door suspiciously.

"DiNozzo."

Hearing his name, Tony's eyes quickly snapped back to him before losing focusing again. Groaning, he slipped back onto the couch and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.

"Why did you make me take those stupid pills?" he muttered "I feel like a lunatic."

Refraining from making a comment to the last bit, Gibbs watched with slight uncertainty of what to do next as Tony just simply laid there on the couch, every so often talking to himself or someone who was clearly not there. Gibbs leaned forward, trying to catch some of whatever he was talking about.

"I promise I'll go next time, I swear. I already told you I had practice yesterday… Of course I want to! Coach James keeps saying I'm being lazy though, so I have to prove him wrong. Amelia, I really do want to go to your game." He was saying and the lead agent grimaced. There was that damn name again.

Replaying past events in his mind, Gibbs realized that Tony didn't yet know that Gibbs knew about his sister. Abby had told him during the last case in which the two had first met, and he was sure he might have seen a picture of her once at DiNozzo's apartment, but the confrontation hadn't come up yet.

Gibbs supposed it never really had to anyway. If Tony didn't want to tell him, that was his business. He could respect keeping some aspects- and people- in your life private.

Leaving his agent to continue his drug initiated conversation with his dead sister, Gibbs poured himself another cup of coffee, weighing the pros and cons of bringing DiNozzo back to work the next day. The doctor said at least a week of rest on one hand, but the man doubted that the kid was getting any here. Perhaps work could be both productive and calm him?

Then again, that could be an invitation for the guy to destroy all of NCIS…

Sighing, Gibbs took another swig of coffee, deciding right then he would just have to be a risk taker.

* * *

Tony woke to somebody shaking him.

At four o' clock in the morning.

Four. In the morning. In the _morning_. What kind of inconsiderate _ass_ woke somebody up at that god forsaken hour?

"DiNozzo…If you're not ready in ten minutes I'm leaving you."

Gibbs? What the Hell? He looked through blurry eyes at his boss, memories of previous events flooding his mind. Oh God… His Boss had seen him on drugs… Perfect.

"Tony?" he asked, the usual firmness in his voice switching to something that wasn't worry, but close enough to it "Hey… Where are you?"

"Um…Your house, why?" he yawned, but Gibbs ignored him.

"What's your full name?"

"Anthony Dimitri DiNozzo… Gibbs, why are you asking me questions you already know?"

"Be an investigator DiNozzo. I'm sure you have been through this routine many times."

"Concussion check?"

"Yep."

"No offense, but I think I like it better when the hot nurses do it." Tony yawned again and head a slight scoff as his head fell forward again.

"I'll just send the paramedic Scott next time." Gibbs told him and Tony's head shot back up to give the man a glare.

"Not funny." He mumbled into his pillow. Rolling his eyes, Gibbs got up and stretched, reminding Tony he had ten minutes before he left, with or without him. Amusement had spread when he watched the kid jump out of bed, asking in bewilderment if he was really allowed back to work before flurrying around, trying to find the suit Gibbs had washed the day before so he could look somewhat presentable.

Yeah. He was going to have to send Abby to go apartment shopping with him soon, because this was _so_ not happening again.

Unlocking the door to his car, Gibbs waited for Tony to pop out, looking slightly disheveled, but decent as he hastily hopped into the car.

"Ready" he pronounced and Gibbs hit the gas, causing the car to do a one eighty spin before belting towards the highway. "Shit." Tony muttered under his breath as he almost got knocked out the window.

"I would suggest putting on your seat belt." Gibbs advised as he watched the kid struggle for click.

"Yeah, it would have been easier if you waited until I was fully in the car before you went all Jeff Gordon on me."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Tony amended quickly, watching as Gibbs turned into a Starbucks. "I thought we were late?" he asked incredulously and Gibbs shrugged.

"Nope. We don't have to be there for another two hours."

"_What?_"

"I just like to get first dibs on the coffee."

* * *

"I don't understand how that was at all fair." Tony whined as he entered the NCIS lot, glaring at Gibbs.

"It wasn't." was the answer he got and the younger man gave a snarky look before looking sadly at his small, empty cup of coffee.

"First you come back and you didn't bring me anything after I _asked_ you to, then when I do get my drink, you drink it all!"

"I enjoyed it." Gibbs told him seriously and Tony made a mental note to start adding sugar or something into his coffee. If not, he wouldn't have a single cup for as long as he worked for Gibbs.

"ID." The security guard asked, holding out his hand for their badges. Tony reached for his temporary one and winced when he felt nothing but his empty pocket and his mind flashed back to when he had hastily left it on Gibbs' counter this morning in order to get into the car.

This day just kept getting better and better.

"Uh…" he began sheepishly, giving Gibbs a look that was a short leap away from becoming a full out puppy eyes.

"You forgot your badge?" Gibbs asked warily and Tony nodded apologetically feeling instant relief when Gibbs turned to the guard whose shirt read 'Jerry' neatly on the front.

"This guy with you Gibbs?" he asked, folding his hands over his chest.

"Nope. I've never seen him before in my life." He responded back, walking towards the office. Tony felt his mouth drop as he scurried forward only to be stopped by Jerry.

"Whoa. Where do you think you're going?"

* * *

***Present Time***

"Karma." Abby blurted out suddenly as the others died down in their laughing.

"_Karma_? What did I do wrong to deserve that?" Tony asked outraged as the others began snickering again.

"You forgot your badge obviously." Alex commented, rolling his eyes. "Honestly." He added under his breath as Tony stuck out his tongue.

"It is not my fault I had to wake up early and run out the door because the caffeine addict wanted first pick at the coffee… No offense boss." He added hastily as Gibbs gave him a look.

"How did you get back in?" Tim asked and Tony groaned.

"I _still_ feel bad about that." He muttered and Abby's grin widened.

"Aw, he forgave you Tony. Besides, _I _thought it was hilarious." She told him soothingly as the SFA's face went beet red. Ziva, Alex, Tim, and Scarlett each gave looks of alarm and all turned to Gibbs who looked as though he was trying not to smile.

"DiNozzo was… Determined…To get back in." he said a small smirk finally inching onto his face.

"Poor Samuel." Ducky mused to himself, recapturing everyone's attention.

"Oh Tony…What did you do to the poor boy?" Scarlett fussed as she wrung her hands nervously. Bashfully, Tony bit his lip.

"It really was an accident." He offered helplessly. "It was his last day at work too before resigning…" he sighed shaking his head "I bet he didn't think he'd be going out like that."

"Like _what_?" Jimmy asked impatiently. He had been waiting for the past five minutes for everyone to hurry up and tell the story.

"Tony ruined Sam's life." Abby said in a way of explanation.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Abby, I didn't ruin his life!" Tony objected and Jenny turned to Gibbs.

"Didn't Abby say something about him falling off a building earlier?" she muttered remembering how at the end of the first tale she had been going on about Vivian almost getting eaten by a shark and Sam falling off buildings.

"Yep." Gibbs answered nonchalantly and the director slowly leaned back into her own chair, wondering what she would have done if she had been director when Anthony DiNozzo was hired.

Meanwhile, Abby and Tony were still arguing about whether Tony had ruined Sam's life or not.

"Abby. Sam has a very nice life now which means I didn't ruin it." Tony was trying to explain as Abby gave a sigh of exasperation.

"_Fine_." She consented "But you definitely scarred him for eternity." There was a long pause in which the Senior Field Agent seemed to consider this before reluctantly agreeing.

"Maybe a little." He said, making a face.

"What did you _do_?" Alex asked bewilderedly and both Abby and Tony looked at each other.

"Nothing." The both said in union, causing everyone else to roll their eyes.

"Well, _nothing_ got him into quite a bit of trouble." Ducky concluded "I'm afraid Anthony did have a rather… Stubborn spirit…. Well, he still does of course, but that day it was particularly strong…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"How about we play poker? I win? You let me in. I lose? You wait five minutes before letting me in. Sound fair?" Tony asked as Jerry raked a tired hand through his hair and glared.

"Kid, get out of here before I have to haul you out."

"Come on! Listen. I work here, but I left my badge at my boss' house because he woke me up at four in the morning to get coffee and then drove me here so I can't really drive back without hot wiring his car… And I shouldn't really do that either because he could fire me and that would defeat the purpose of hot wiring his car in the first place. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Uh… No. That didn't make any sense. Listen, you have five seconds to beat it. Understand?"

"But-"

"One…Two…Three…" letting out long breath through his teeth, Tony petulantly stormed away, hissing darkly under his breath about being treated like a five year old. From behind him, Jerry rolled his eyes and Tony continued to pout all the way out of the building.

"Great. How am I supposed to get in now?" he told himself quietly as he sat on a bench outside of the building. He decided to go with one of three plans.

Time to initiate Plan A: Sneak Past Security.

* * *

Plan A didn't go too well. In fact, Jerry told him if he went inside one more time he was going to be sitting in a cell. Tony still didn't understand how the guard even saw him when he had used all of his stealth skills to sneak past him… Perhaps the guy was like, Spiderman or something with that spidey sense.

Moving on to Plan B: Call for Backup.

Figuring Gibbs would be no help, seeing as the man was the one who abandoned him in the first place, Tony went with the easiest person to reach within his new range of co-workers.

"_Hello?"_

"Sam!" he smiled as he gripped his phone and peered around to look for anyone else who would be willing to join his cause. "Look. I need a favor."

"_Where are you? Gibbs is going to be pissed if you're any more late than you are_."

"Well that would be his fault. He left me out here and that guard guy- Jerry- won't let me in." Tony whined and there was a long pause in which there was the sound of the phone being passed to different hands.

"_Tony?"_

"…Hi Viv."

"_Where are you?"_

"Outside…You guys need to help me get in." Hearing an exhausted sigh on the other end of the line, Tony grinned when he looked up and saw that his two co-workers were peering down at him from many stories up. He gave a cheery wave and saw Sam's figure wave back before Viv smacked it.

"_Don't encourage him!_" He heard her say. _"Alright, we'll come down and-"_

"What!? No! That won't work!"

"_Why not?_"

"Jerry said if I stepped inside the building one more time, I was going to be sitting in a cell for the rest of my life. I don't really want to be the kind of cop that goes to jail, so we have to try a different approach. What I need you guys to do is get some rope, and throw it out the window so I can climb up."

"_Umm…No. This isn't Mission Impossible."_

"Good reference Viv, I'm proud. Alright, so then we can go with the boring plan. What I need you guys to do is this…"

* * *

Sam Gavotte wasn't exactly a kind of person who was all that fond of heights. In fact, he was pretty terrified of them. Which was why he hated Anthony DiNozzo at the moment.

"You do realize I can get fired for this right?" he asked shakily into the phone, trying not to throw up at the altitude.

"_You're leaving Sammy! Why do you think I chose you to do the job that might potentially lose their job? It's not like you are going to have to work for Gibbs or Morrow again."_ Tony's voice spoke from the other end and Sam bit his lip, trying to think of a hundred different ways to tell his newly recruited partner to shut up.

"I can't believe Vivian agreed to this." He mumbled and from the other line of his phone, Viv spoke up.

"_I'm only doing this for my amusement Sam. Trust me, if it were me up there, Tony would never get into this building."_

"_Hey! That hurts! I would help you in!"_

"Guys, I think I might faint!"

"_That defeats the whole purpose of our plan!"_ Tony cried out. _"Stay awake man! Okay… On the count of three…One, two, three, GO!"_ Pulling the phone away from his ear, Sam laid back onto roof staring up at the sky. Viv's voice at the other end was still loud and clear, despite being on the ground next to him.

"_Hey Jerry? Yeah. We have a problem up here. Agent Gavotte is stuck on the roof… No I don't know how he got there. I need you to come up and get him out. Is there a back-up guard? No…Alright then, I'll switch places with you while you go get him. Thanks a million Jerry!_" he heard her beam from over the line and reached over to grab the phone and tell his partner she was a good actor when it flew and clattered right on the edge of the building.

Shit.

Alright…This was simple. He was just going to have go…Grab the phone…and come back. Jerry would come up and get him down from this stupid roof, by then Viv would have snuck Tony in, and all would have been fine and dandy…

Edging closer and closer to the brink of the roof, Sam took another deep breath before moving forward again, trying not to look down.

Okay. He could do this. Just an inch closer…

YES! Triumph overcame the agent as he had the phone gripped tightly in his hand when all of sudden, Tony's voice screamed through the air.

"_SAM! I DID IT! VIV GOT ME IN!" _Jumping at the sound, Sam felt himself stumble forward and catch himself on the edge.

Crap, crap, crap…

No longer did his legs feel any sort of support under them as he dangled over the edge, his knuckle going snow white as he gripped the metal frame.

He was going to die. Oh dear God…He was going to _die_…. Not even a heroic death. Most federal agents at least got _that_ small luxury. Sam was going to die by falling off a building while helping to sneak his partner inside. Hell, on his gravestone he was sure Gibbs would make sure the name 'Scotts' was on there somewhere…

Slowly Sam's hands began to build up with sweat. The slippery substance began to loosen his grip on the edge and it was only a matter of seconds before he fell, the sun heating up his body just that much more. Swallowing, Sam wondered if it would do him any good to scream for help.

There was no chance though, since he already felt his hand leave the side of the building just before his descent began.

"Whoa!" someone yelled and there was a loud crack as Sam's shoulder was forced back up by the pressure of someone grabbing his hand and hoisting him up high. "What the _hell_?"

The hands pulled again, pulling the almost crying agent back to safety as he began to shake uncontrollably in an effort to not faint. He was alive…

"What the Hell were you _doing_?" the person asked, and Sam looked up to see Jerry the security guard glaring at him. "I mean, I knew Agent Blackadder told me you got stuck up here, but why are you all falling off the roof?" he asked, keeping a firm grip on his arm in case he decided to try a swan dive.

"I…My phone…It…Vibrating…Viv…Tony…"

"Okay man. Let's just get you down from here before you have a stroke- Hey, what were you even doing here anyways?"

"H-had to g-get in…"

"Al-right then… Should you maybe go see Dr. Mallard?" Jerry asked soothingly as he led him down the steps.

"I'm going to kill my partner." Was the only response the man heard.

* * *

"You almost _fell off_?" Tony asked in amazement as Sam shakily sat down in his seat. After Jerry had gone back downstairs, the probie had popped out, full of relish at his success. "That is _awesome_! You didn't even get hurt! The last time I fell off a building- which was yesterday now that I think about it- I ended up with a concussion… I still have one actually. Hey, if Gibbs asks I took my pills okay?"

Shooting a venomous look Sam shook his head vehemently.

"No way. I did enough for you to last me a lifetime." Pouting, the younger man sat at his desk before blanching at the new stack of files on his desk.

"Ugh… It says I have to go to FLETC tomorrow. Wait… What's that?" he frowned, picking up the first file between his forefinger and thumb, like it was something contagious.

"Basically federal agents' training school." Viv said from her own respective desk. Tony nodded in understanding. Gibbs had mentioned something like this, and he personally found it completely unfair. He wasn't a newbie at this whole cop thing after all. Why should he have to take courses that were likely to be the exact same as his old ones just to become an agent?

_Because being a cop and an agent is far from the same thing. It's like basketball and soccer. They're both sports, but you don't use your hands to dribble a soccer ball. _Gibbs had told him at his inquiry.

He supposed it made sense to some extent. That didn't mean he had to like the idea of sitting in a classroom reviewing boring protocol.

"Hey DiNozzo. Glad to see you joined us." Gibbs stated when he walked back into the bullpen. His eyes wandered over Sam's pale complexion, Viv's shirt which had a 'temporary guard' badge on it, and Tony's half bashful face. If he had any questions on what had happened, he didn't show it though, as he simply reached over and grabbed DiNozzo's coffee.

"Will you ever quit doing that?" he grumbled and Gibbs threw him a look.

"Are you ever going to get your ass in gear and work? It's bad enough you were late this morning-"

"What!? You left- Sorry." He said hastily at Gibbs' expression "I mean, uh…Never mind. I'm just going to go do…some…You know…Paperwork…Stuff…" he said quickly and flew to his desk, pulling out papers and a pen.

* * *

Mark Hemmings watched intently as he took another long sip of coffee from the break room, his teammate nervously twirling a piece of her shirt next to him.

"Mark, what are you thinking?" Lauren asked "We have a case you know." The agent held up his finger for a moment of peace before he placed his eyes back onto the new agent's face.

"I just don't _get_ it… What makes him so special?" he muttered and Lauren sighed. Ever since the new agent had shown up yesterday, her partner had been obsessing over why Agent Gibbs had picked him to be on his team. She knew it was only a matter of time before the hazing began.

"Mark, just leave him alone." She begged. She had seen the way he treated other agents in the past and was worried that the newbie could possibly get the worst of Mark's wrath.

"Come on." He groaned "Aren't you curious? I mean, is he smart? Strong? A king of interrogation?"

"Who cares? Maybe you'll see if you let him actually _work_." The other agent told him fiercely. Mark ignored her though, clenching the cup of steaming coffee tighter.

"I worked as an intern here for _five years_, and when I _finally_ graduate, almost all the team leaders rejected me. Hell, Gibbs just said no. Do you know how _humiliating_ that is? I barely got a place on this team… Then, some rookie with no federal experience comes along and gets on the best team here? What does that tell you?"

This time, Lauren didn't even bother to reply. She simply watched him through large, disconcerting eyes with wonder at what Mark would do. He wouldn't try to pick a fight with this DiNozzo kid right? While the new recruit looked tall and athletic, compared to Mark's bodybuilder muscles and iron physique… The poor guy would get squashed like a bug.

"We should wait till Gibbs leaves." Mark said abruptly and Lauren gave him a sharp look that clearly said _'for what?'_ Snorting with impatience, Mark rolled his eyes and answered "To introduce ourselves of course. Haven't you heard? You have to make a good first impression on the newbies Lauren… It's how they'll view you for the rest of their career."

* * *

Tony was exhausted. He had _finally_ finished every single paper in every single file and was thanking every single god in existence for it.

Stacking the last form on top of the already teetering pile, Tony sighed and looked around. Sam hadn't spoken to him for the rest of the day, and was now in the coffee room, obviously trying to drown his sorrows away with caffeine. Viv had already gotten to go home for the day and Gibbs was…Well, Gibbs was wherever he disappeared to. Tony could only hope his Boss hadn't hopped into the car and left without him.

Picking up his backpack, he began to put all his stuff away when a crashing sound echoed across the room. Allowing his head to snap up, Tony caught sight of all his paperwork just before it fell over the edge of his desk and onto the floor.

"Oh. Sorry about that." Someone drawled, and a few of the agents who were walking by stopped and turned to whoever had spoken to Tony. Straightening up, Tony analyzed the two people who had approached.

The first one was a girl, a little older than him, with soft brown hair and glittering coco colored eyes to match. Her skin was dark, giving her a Brazilian look as she nervously fiddled with her hands, looking as though she would rather not be standing in front of Tony as she glanced to the man next to her.

The one who had spoken was… Rather large. About three times Tony in width, and about an inch higher. His eyes were beady and blue, giving the impression that he was an electronic device of some kind. Brown hair was cropped into a buzz, and the new agent couldn't help but wonder if he had ever been on one of those wrestling matches on TV.

"I'm sure you are." Tony quipped with a friendly smile that didn't at all match the man's in front of him. "Tony DiNozzo." He held out his hand and waited for the other man to take it…

He didn't.

"Special Agent Mark Hemmings." He said loudly so that anyone who was not paying attention to the scene, was certainly now. "and this is Agent Lauren Taylor." He added, jerking his head to the girl, who gave a sad little wave.

"Nice to meet you." Tony told them formally, waiting for either one of them to announce what they were doing, and why neither one of them had reached down to put his files back on his desk.

"Sorry I can't say the same for you." Mark smirked and Tony rose his eyebrows in surprise.

"Why's that?" he asked lightly, already biting his tongue to keep the thousands of smartass remarks at bay.

"Well, I'm not a real fan of meeting people who take jobs from people who deserve it more." Mark growled, his hands twitching ever so slightly despite the relatively cool look on his face.

"What makes you think I don't deserve this job?" Tony asked quietly, his voice quickly taking on a tone that sounded dangerous.

"From the way it sounds, you're just a pretty boy with a rich Daddy playing cops and robbers." Mark told him spitefully and Tony felt a smile tug at his lips. He had already won.

"A bit hypercritical, coming from you, _Mark_.You don't think I haven't notice you watching me? That I haven't asked your name? And look up who _you_ were? Mom and Dad own a pretty big company over there don't they? In fact, I read it makes more than a couple million a year." This was all said in a careless voice, contradicting any hardening of the face that passed over Tony's features.

Mark had been silent for a couple minutes before narrowing his eyes with instant dislike.

"You don't know the whole story DiNozzo."

"So what makes you think you know mine?" came the cool reply. A low hissing sound came from the bigger man as he walked up and pressed his finger right up to the agent's chest.

"I'd watch it if I were you…I can make your life Hell."

"I'm sure your mere appearance creates that affect for many." Tony shot back and Mark took a moment to take the other man in.

"Look. Because I'm a nice guy… I'll give you a chance. Three days to beat it out of here, sound fair? I mean, in all honestly, what do you have that anyone else doesn't? You were picked up off the streets like a stray dog."

"A stray dog." Tony repeated before smirking "Well, at least that's a step up from being an oversized gorilla."

A few laughs echoed from the now silent bullpen as the agents watched with clearly defined interest. Hemmings cursed loudly, causing a couple people to back up before Tony walked over and gently pulled Lauren's arm.

"Could you translate for me? I don't speak chimpanzee all that well…" he asked her innocently and the agent gave the smallest of smiles before taking another look at her partner's face and backing away.

"_DiNozzo_." The man hissed with anger and the other agent shrugged helplessly.

"Hey, I'm not trying to make a fool out of you or anything. It would be wrong of me to take that kind of credit." This time, the laughter was clearer as a couple people tried to conceal their snorts with coughs and sneezes.

"DiNozzo… I will end you."

"You will end me? Like you did to your brain cells apparently. I feel so afraid." At this point, it was clear that Hemmings was through being ridiculed. Marching up to Tony, he grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer, despite a few half-hearted protests from the crowd.

"Let me guess." Tony rolled his eyes "This is when you tell me you weren't hugged enough as a child…"

"Shut your mouth."

"You know, you should really spend less time at the gym and more time working on your personality muscle man." Glowering, the other agent got closer to him and started talking in a cold voice.

"I don't have enemies _probie_, but I'm not afraid to make some. Don't become the first."

"You may not have enemies…but your friends obviously don't like you either." Part of Tony knew he should really shut up, but sometimes it was like he forgot how. There were sudden rushed whispers and Tony found himself away from Mark, blinking rapidly as the man gave a final look loathing before holding up three fingers.

"Three days DiNozzo." He told him before stalking away.

"Three days DiNozzo." The agent mimicked and reached down to pick up his files. Great. Second day of work and he already made a new friend. Looking up to see the horde of agents that had been there moments ago disperse, Tony sighed and picked up another file.

"I'm sorry about that." Snapping his head up, Tony met those vivid dark eyes again and gave a small smile.

"No problem Agent Taylor. I've been through the hazing process before, I'm fine." Kneeling next to him, the girl bit her lip and gave him a sideways glance as she helped him reassemble the spilled papers.

"It's Lauren." She told him quietly "You know, Mark isn't usually like that. I mean, he likes to terrorize the newbies for sure, but I've never seen him get…almost physical before."

"Couldn't he get fired for that?"

"Oh sure… You're not going to report him are you?"

"Nah, just trying to figure out if I can hit back or not." Tony snorted and Lauren laughed.

"Huh. You're something else aren't you?" she asked and Tony debated about asking the rhetorical question or not. Deciding to answer with another grin, they silently continued to clean up the mess made for the next several minutes, the rest of the office ignoring them.

"Thanks." Tony told her when everything was back in order.

"No problem. I'll try to keep Mark at bay for a little while… He must have had an off day or something. He'll get over it. See you around… Tony, right?"

"Yep. See you Lauren." He waved and smiled, allowing the feeling of victory to sink in, knowing he had at least made one friend.

* * *

***Present Time***

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Freeze. Stop. Rewind." Jimmy said, holding up a hand "Mark Hemmings? As in The Senior Agent on Tanner's team?"

"The very same." Tony drawled, his nose scrunched up in memory. "He's such a dick."

"But… He doesn't seem to bother you now." Jimmy frowned and then gave a questioning look at his friend.

"Eh, we don't talk except… Once in a while." He said almost bashfully and quickly tried to slide into a new conversation.

"Why would you talk to him at all?" Ziva grimaced "He sounds awful." From her side, Abby giggled and shook her head.

"Because Tony can be soooooo overprotective." She beamed and grinned when Tony's glare latched onto her. "I remember when Kate first came, Mark the Lark was all sweet on her. Then she got all annoyed with him and told Tony, so they both stayed after work, and colored his desk with sharpies so that it was like a rainbow… I thought it was pretty but Mark didn't like it so much…"

"He never messed with us." Tim said, gesturing to himself and Ziva.

"Oooh! But he tried McGee! When you first came, he was talking about all the hazing he was going to do to you, but Tony went right up in his face and was all like 'I'm pretty sure that would be my job, considering he's _my_ partner. And if you even _think_ about messing with him, I'll rip your head off.' It was _adorable_! And after Ziva had been here a couple months, Mark made a comment about how she would look without certain… Things on. So Tony and I rigged his computer so that every time it turned on, it spewed a thirty minute lecture on sexual harassment." Abby chirped and Tony turned to her.

"You know it still does that?" he asked and both exchanged high fives. Ziva on the other was fuming, her hand twitching towards her knife at the latest revelation that this man had even _thought_ of that horrible scenario.

Tim was still looking shocked, his face bewildered as to why Tony would defend him from this monster man, only to do the hazing himself. As if reading his mind, Ducky leaned over with the answer.

"I do believe that Anthony's version of teasing and Agent Hemmings are quite different- as you will probably see later on. Trust me my dear boy when I say… You dodged a bit of a bullet. Your partner wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms by everyone." He told him and the younger agent's eyes widened in shock at the information. The look though, quickly became a very small smile once he realized that Tony had stood up for him.

It was odd that Tony hadn't mentioned it though… And it also made Tim wondered exactly how many times his friend had done something like this and not told anybody about it.

Ugh… They didn't have a course for this at MIT… Though that would be rather useful. Anthony DiNozzo 101: The Psychological Anatomy of a Partner.

"He still works here?" Jenny asked from her respective place, frowning. She had kicked her shoes off sometime during the past hour, and was now curled up in her chair with a warm cup of tea between her fingers. "I don't remember going through his file." She frowned, though there was a glimmer of recollection seconds later. She just might have to take a closer look at that later. An agent who would show almost…Violent tendency towards a co-worker? Oh, she did not think so.

Of course, one could argue that Gibbs notorious head slaps were a sign of 'violent tendencies' but she dismissed the idea quickly. They were very rarely ever forms of malice, and after Tony did seem to learn from them.

Thinking of her two agents, Jenny let her eyes wander over to the two males and study them over carefully. Tony was in deep conversation with Alex, usually his arms to animatedly describe whatever it was he was talking about as Gibbs seemed to watch with a slightly bothered look on his face.

Ah, that look. She identified it easily, having seen it on many others before Gibbs. She grinned at the thought that the poor man might not even recognize the emotion going through him at the second and leaned back to take another sip of tea. This… Should be interesting.

* * *

**Hey guys...lol. So remember that time, like, last chapter, when I said I was going to update really fast? Haha...Yeah I didn't. I did try though! It is already the fourth chapter and I bet you're tired of hearing my excuses :( So...Just know that I really AM sorry and to please review (:**

**Well...That is all I have to say! Adios!**

**-Kensi**


	5. Chapter 5

~Chapter 5~

***Present Time***

"Name? Address? Date of birth? Wife? Kids?"

"Alex-"

"Favorite food? Favorite way to be killed?"

"You know, this is really not a big deal. It-"

"Do you think Abby would be willing to help?"

"Alex!" Tony laughed exasperatedly and shook his head as he tugged the pocket knife his friend had been playing with between his fingers away from him. "You're not going to become a murderer for me, okay? And certainly not over some scum of the earth like Mark Hemmings."

"I don't like him." Alex responded unnecessarily "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Because of two reasons. Number uno? I knew this would be your reaction. Number dos? You were supposed to be avoiding stress. Do you have any idea how guilty I would feel if I sent you into another cardiac arrest? I would eat my own gun." Taking the knife back from Tony, Alex pointed it at his chest with a few jabbing motions.

"If you ever considered anything like that, I would kill you."

"You would already be dead."

"I would haunt your ass then."

"I would be dead."

"I would kick you back to the living."

"Then I would just be a zombie." Tony laughed and Alex made a face at his obvious defeat.

"Whatever. I would do something." He told him and Tony smiled to himself. Not that he would ever admit it, but there were times where he missed someone fussing over him like this. Ever since Gibbs had up and left, Tony found himself suddenly being the 'responsible' one of the group. It wasn't entirely new territory, but the young agent had to admit that he never realized how much he was looked after until his mentor was gone. He would stay up weeks without sleep, days without eating, and hours with doing nothing more than paperwork, cases, and occasionally undercover work. Even his 'free time' with Jeanne was still work related. Tony had to admit, when Gibbs first came back, he was almost relieved, thinking that his boss would order him to get to sleep or something, and Tony wouldn't have to feel guilty about not doing anything he was supposed to be.

It didn't work like that though- which was fine- because Tony reminded himself he was an adult now, and made his own decisions. Certainly he didn't expect Gibbs to be there to hold his hand forever? He wasn't five after all, and in fact, it was probably a good thing this whole mess with his boss had happened. It was a reminder that the world didn't- it never did and never would- revolve around him. People would never make their decisions based on him anyway. It was selfish to think like that, and juvenile. People would leave, not because they were bad people or anything, but because they had greater concerns in life than him.

Tony frowned, realizing his time with Gibbs must have warped his reality into him thinking he was more important than he really was.

"Tony?" Alex said, when the silence had lasted too long. The agent glanced around the empty bullpen he had taken his friend up to once Ducky decided they needed a break. The story had begun, but Abby quickly cut the doctor off, saying it was time for lunch. Therefore, she went with Scarlett, and Ziva to grab food while the rest wandered around aimlessly until the girls came back. Jenny had disappeared into her office, Jimmy and Ducky were talking about medical stuff, and Gibbs…Well God knows where Gibbs went. That left Tony to take his old partner on a tour of the NCIS facilities.

"Sorry." Tony grinned "Just zoned out."

"Sure." Alex responded disbelievingly and sat down at Tony's desk, looking around. He smiled when he saw one of Tony's many hidden pictures peeking out from his drawer. Opening it up, there were a couple photos of the team, whether them all together or just individually. A few more was of a woman with dark eyes and brown hair which Alex recognized as Caitlyn Todd, Tony's deceased partner that he had actually met once long ago. The rest were of Scarlett, himself, and Amelia.

"Who's this?" he asked, hunting down one that he had never seen before. The girl vaguely resembled Kate, but with blue eyes and a more elegant look than compared to Kate's sophisticated beauty.

"Hm… Oh! That's…Well… Girlfriend." Tony responded bashfully "Jeanne." He added and turned a quick shade of red. Alex considered the girl for a moment before nodding a putting the picture back.

"You've never mentioned you were seeing someone."

"Well… It's a bit complicated. Try not to bring it up in front of, you know, the others."

"She's work related isn't she?"

"Alex, I can't say." Tony told him and that was all the answer he needed.

"If she's a target, don't be stupid." He chided "I don't think you need to add a star crossed lover to your list of problems."

"Problems? I don't have problems." Tony snorted, though his eyes were a bit uneasy.

"How's your boss?"

"That obvious, huh?" Tony asked bitterly as he rearranged some items on his desk. "It's been…Rough. I've been a brat, he's been an ass. I can honestly say we've both been trying. I just… I don't even know anymore. I kind of feel that by trying to make it better it is just making it worse. Maybe I should just leave it alone. I was doing that before and survived. It was this whole story thing that triggered us trying to make it back to the way things were before and…Well back then was a different time, you know? I don't think it's ever going to be like that again." This was all said in one quick breath, Tony looking as though someone might try to stop him once he got started.

"You're thinking about leaving…" Alex stated, recognizing the look in his friend's eyes when he wanted to scram. "Jesus kid." He mumbled and the SFA twirled a pen in his desk around in his fingers.

"It might be better if I did… I don't know…"

"Maybe it is just you being a coward." Alex told him sharply and the other man shrugged, not looking the least bit fazed by the jibe.

"No maybe about it. I know I'm not the bravest of the bunch." Alex snorted and rolled his eyes. Tony was only not the 'bravest of the bunch' when it came to personal and emotional problems. As far as other people were concerned? The kid would jump off buildings, get shot at, stabbed, tortured, and god knows what else. In fact, Alex was pretty sure that as far as 'brave' went… Tony had it down.

"Does Gibbs know?"

"I haven't told him, but I'm sure he knows…Somehow. He seems to know everything."

"Just a good listener DiNozzo." Jumping, Tony spun around in his chair to see his Boss leaning casually on the wall, watching the two men with something in his eyes that he couldn't really place. Alex smiled, probably knowing that Gibbs was there the whole time.

"Boss! I just… He…You…" Tony tried to get the words out, but didn't seem to know how. Giving a sympathetic look, Alex clapped him on the shoulder before getting up and leaving the two men on their own.

"Look, Boss-"

"You're still calling me that?" Gibbs cut him off sharply and a guilty look crossed the other agent's face.

"Gibbs, it was just an idea." Snorting, Gibbs took Alex's empty seat and waited for the rest of the explanation to come.

A couple weeks had gone by since their last blow out, and while it took a few gestures from each one, such as coffee on the others' desk in the morning to other unexplained conveniences, it was unofficially decided that they would move past the event without much talk. However, more recently the tension had been building back up with Jenny making Tony disappear more and more often and Gibbs using Tony as a human punching bag. The sharp and belittling comments were building back up again and it was clear that neither one of the men really knew what to do about it.

"Would it be easier for you? If I left?" Tony asked suddenly and Gibbs hoped his glare would give enough of an answer.

He himself, was a bit unsure of where he stood with his agent at the moment. There were times where things were totally normal, and others when he forgot who the Hell he was even talking to.

It really wasn't either of their faults anymore, it was… Well, it was just like Tony said. Now was a different time then back then.

"If I had wanted you gone, I would have fired you." Gibbs commented and Tony raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"Would you?" he asked skeptically and both men made a face at the question. If Gibbs had fired Tony it would be as good as admitting he failed to fix things with his agent, and it was a well-known fact that Gibbs didn't just admit failure.

"DiNozzo I don't want you gone." He said, hoping that would be enough. Tony gave a small nod.

"Okay then." He agreed, relaxing. They both sat in the silence for a moment until, surprisingly, Gibbs was the first to speak.

"How long is Alex staying?" he asked conversationally, looking at the photo of Jeanne on his agent's desk. Gibbs had heard Tony explain to the ex-cop who she was. He wondered almost scathingly what his agent would say if _he_ asked who she was. Probably would have said Jenny told him to keep quiet about that as well.

"A couple of weeks. Baltimore is still a little ways away, so he and Scarlett have been staying at my place."

"Really?" Gibbs asked, this time with real disbelief. Tony wasn't the kind of person who let you into his home easily. The times Gibbs himself had been, he hadn't actually been invited in, he had just kind of walked in. In fact, the older man couldn't ever really remember anyone receiving an actual invitation in the house, aside from that one night Tony had gotten Gibbs to stay when they had met in Baltimore.

The strange feeling bubbled up again at the very thought, but he quickly shrugged it off. He still wasn't for sure how to identify that emotion. It probably didn't matter.

"Yep. It's been fun…" Tony continued, becoming more chatty. Gibbs noted with a bit of satisfaction that he looked slightly more rested than usual. There were still the dark circles under his eyes, but nothing as worrisome as before. Jenny had finally taken the time to get the kid to sleep, and he looked a hell of a lot better after. Gibbs was still pretty positive that he wasn't fully healthy, but was trying to keep his mouth closed… For right now.

"Gibbs?" Tony asked, his eyes rapidly turning concerned when there was no acknowledgement from his partner after a few minutes. Seeing no physical injury, Tony quickly clamped his mouth shut, hoping he had said nothing wrong. His boss had and never would be an emotional person that you would have to tip toe around. However, the agent had learned since Gibbs' memory loss, there were some subjects that you were better off avoiding around him. Anything that would remind him of his wife and daughter were usually out of bounds, which was hard considering he knew nothing about either of them. Somehow though, he always managed to screw up and say the wrong thing. Ducky had told him it was because there were times where Tony acted so childish it probably reminded Gibbs of Kelly. The comment had hardened the agent's resolve to be completely adult like and responsible- up until the point Gibbs had accused him of acting too out of character.

In the end, Tony decided the only way to solve any of this was to help his Boss move on from his family's deaths once more. It seemed like an impossible feat though, and he didn't even know where to begin.

"Are you alright?" he asked cautiously and Gibbs' eyes snapped back to wherever they had been when Tony was talking.

"Fine." He answered gruffly and stood up the stretch. "I think the others are back." He added as he peered out of the window to see the girls back with heaps of food. Tony nodded and stood, ready to join them.

* * *

"Tony! Use a napkin!" Scarlett scolded as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand after biting into his sandwich. Giving a smile through his food, the agent made a show of taking the napkin and tying it around his neck.

"Mmm…Where did you _get_ this?" Jimmy asked as he took another bite, effectively smearing mustard on his face.

"From the deli down the street." Ziva answered, looking immensely proud. She took another delicate bite from her own food as she nonchalantly stole one of McGee's chips.

"Hey!" he protested, trying to grasp it back only to have his hand smashed against the autopsy table. "Ow." He added and made a face at his partner who gave a sweet smile in return.

"Um…It may just be me." Alex started slowly "but do any of you guys find it weird that we are eating at a table that Dr. Mallard dissects bodies on?" he asked, not touching his food at all.

"It's just you." Abby said through a mouthful of Caff-Pow. "Besides, Ducky cleans these things off…Um, well, at least I think he does. Are you going to eat that?" she asked, snagging his sandwich.

"Director Sheppard told me that she had paperwork to catch up on." Ziva added as she stuck out her tongue at Tony who had tried to steal her cookie a moment before "So she will not be joining us…Busy as a buffalo."

"Bee." Tim corrected and nodded at Tony from behind Ziva's back as the two secretly made their plans to steal her food.

"Be what?" she asked him and when she turned Tony inched towards her.

"No, bee. Like the animal." He answered and when Ziva turned around to pin Tony's arm away from her food, Tim quickly snatched up the cookie with a cry of triumph, only to have the mossad officer twist his arm and take it back.

"Not subtle McGee." Tony groaned and then took the cookie from Ziva's hand and licked it.

"That is disgusting!" she gasped.

"Well, now you won't it. It's mine." Tony chortled happily. It only lasted for a moment though, since Ziva shrugged and took the cookie, biting into it anyways.

"Hey!" Tony started by was cut off by Ducky.

"Well now! Perhaps we should get started before a full food fight appears."

"We did say we would start one for Abs." Tim began but was cut off by the elderly doctor.

"I'm afraid, Timothy, that having a food fight where we speak to the dead, may not be in good taste."

"What are you talking about Ducky?" Abby demanded "We are eating here aren't we? Besides, the dead need some action around here. They have all eternity to rot in the ground. We might as well give them some action while we can." Both Alex and Scarlett stared at her when she said this, but no comment was made.

"Abigail, perhaps we should just move on." Ducky sighed "Besides, we are at the part of the story where Anthony has his first day of FLETC training."

"What did he do now?"

"Nothing! I swear!"

"Anthony! Now. _Please_ let me finish. It was early morning when Jethro went to-"

"Wait, I thought this was about me?"

"_Anthony!_"

"Tony!"

"Ugh, alright. Jeez people."

"As I was saying… It was early morning when Jethro went to the park to enjoy his coffee alone when a visitor came by…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"Jethro! I've heard you adopted. Congratulations." Taking a long sip of his coffee, Gibbs shrugged, looking at the FBI agent through calculating eyes.

"Hey Fornell." He offered as greeting.

"What's this guy's name?" the other agent asked and Gibbs snorted and rolled his eyes.

"The _kid's_ name is Anthony DiNozzo." He answered, watching in slight amusement as Fornell stiffened in recognition before looking at his friend with an accusing frown.

"DiNozzo." He said flatly and Gibbs mimicked the look. "You got…DiNozzo?" There was a small smirk before Fornell made a nasty noise and gave a pouting expression.

"I worked with him on a case once…"

"I thought it might have been him." Gibbs said conversationally "I wasn't for sure, but now I am."

Rolling his eyes, Fornell seemed to consider this before taking up his seat on the bench next to the NCIS agent.

"How's it been going then?"

"You said you worked with him, why don't you tell me?"

"That bad?"

"I'm relishing the fact he has FLETC training today." Gibbs sighed and placed his coffee down on ground.

"What did he do?"

"Well, fell off a building, made Sam almost fall off a building, tricked his co-workers into doing his paperwork, and he might have gotten into a fight yesterday…"

"Who's Sam?" Fornell frowned at the new name and Gibbs gave him a look of sympathy.

"Well…Scotts. Guess I've been saying his name wrong." He shrugged. If Fornell thought this was a troublesome revelation, he didn't show it as he took another sip of his own drink and thought over all of his friend's previous words.

"What do you mean he might have gotten into a fight?"

"Wasn't there, but people kept whispering about DiNozzo and Hemmings… Not for sure what happened though. Don't think I want to just yet." Gibbs commented and Fornell rolled his eyes. It was obvious Gibbs wasn't used to being kept out of the loop and as much as he denied it, it was clear that he resented the fact he was deprived of information.

"Well Gibbs, we're about to see how good your new kid is."

"Case?"

"Sounds like we're going to have shared jurisdiction."

"Really?" Gibbs asked, a note of surprise hinting in his tone at the fact Fornell wasn't trying to sabotage the jurisdiction. "Tobias, did you try to find a case where you would get to work with my agent?"

"Jethro please. I am superior to that kind of juvenile behavior. We've been on a trail of a serial killer for about three months now, and he just hit a Petty Officer. As a professional, I knew you would be interested."

"Is this the same serial killer that killed our Sergeant two weeks ago and wouldn't let us investigate?" Gibbs asked squarely and Fornell gave a small smirk into his coffee. "You better not try to poach my agent." He warned and the FBI worker laughed.

"Ah, try not to think of it as poaching. More along the lines of…A friendly invitation that just so happens to be filled with bribes."

"Tobias…"

"No need to get possessive Jethro, he isn't mine yet. Though I must say it is entertaining to see you give a damn about a fellow co-worker. Interesting. It makes me almost feel sorry for taking him away." The other man taunted and Gibbs felt his teeth clench in anger at the implications.

"I must be going." Fornell continued "I'll get to you about the case tomorrow…And tell me how your boy's first day of school went. If he is anything like when I met him, I'm sure it'll be interesting."

* * *

"DINOZZO!"

Tony could have sworn his instructor's face went at least ten shades of interesting colors before settling on a nice red that complimented his hair nicely.

"Sir?" he asked, taking the time to carefully remove his feet from the desk they were propped up on. For the first time ever, he wasn't doing anything wrong, and was confused as to why he was getting yelled at.

"This is a serious course, with serious objectives." The man lectured pointlessly and Tony gave a glance to the other students in hopes they would clarify what was going on.

"Uh… I understand that sir… So…um… Why are you upset exactly?" Fuming, the man smacked his hands at the files that he had handed out at the very beginning of class and his look intensified.

"You were given this assignment _three hours ago_ and yet, you are sitting her doing nothing while everyone else is hard at work. Were you perhaps planning on getting the answers from someone else?" he snarled and Tony blinked. He could not seriously believe this…

"Well…I'm kind of finished." He admitted, leaning forward slightly on his elbows and at least twelve sets of eyes snapped onto his face.

"Really?" the teacher asked, obviously unconvinced. "So tell me Mr. DiNozzo, if you solved it, walk me through who did it and why."

"Okay." Tony shrugged and flipped open the file, where during the first five minutes of the session he had scribbled notes in the margins and easily circled the killer's name and motives.

"Kevin Beast was killed by Lincoln Thorne." He started, but was quickly cut off.

"Um. Wrong." She said and Tony glanced up at the voice. The girl who had spoken was a little older than him, with frizzy hair and a mean smile. Her nose scrunched up as she looked at him.

"Um. Right." He mimicked her and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"If you would bother to read, it says on page three Beast was killed at 0300…Lincoln was verified to have been at school at that time." She said smartly and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Do you know Zulu time?" he asked and when she nodded curtly, he sighed "Why would anyone go to school at three o'clock in the morning? It was verified by his teacher, who also had a grudge against Thorne- if you bothered to read page twenty-one. They teamed up and broke into Thorne's house in the morning-"

"Layla Walter's DNA was at the crime scene." The girl interrupted again, flipping her stringy hair vigorously over her shoulder as she spoke.

"Yeah, it was planted there. Thorne and Walter were neighbors, it would have been easy to get some of her DNA, especially since they were have an affair."

"It never said they had an affair. Walter was dating Beast."

"Well, it was kind of obvious. Walter _was_ dating Beast, but her and Thorne were in a relationship too… In the interview Walter admitted to cheating on her boyfriend, she just didn't saw who. Thorne said in _his_ interview 'Thorne had a habit of playing with what was _his_' referring to Walter. Walter was probably planning on telling Beast the truth, and Thorne attacked her and that's how she ended up in the hospital- which by the way, is a solid alibi on why she didn't do it- so anyways, Thorne must have snuck out that morning with his teacher, who was still upset at Beast for being thrown under the bus, and they killed him, planting Walter's DNA at the scene." Tony finished and the girl stared, looking as though she was trying to find any holes in this logic.

Tony's instructor on the other hand, was giving him a strange look as the rest of the class watched with interested eyes.

"Mr. DiNozzo," he said slowly "Would you please remind me why you are in this class?"

"Oh, I need it to become an agent…" Tony said, slightly confused and the teacher shook his head.

"No. I mean _this_ class." He clarified and Tony shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"It was required." He explained, glancing down at his schedule "I have to take this class, one on government protocol, government weapons, and agency functions…" he trailed off and the man slowly took away the file from him.

For a second everyone just stared at him and Tony could have sworn he had never been in a more humiliating position. Who would have thought he would get into trouble for being _good_ at something? Of course, this wasn't the first time something like this has happened…

"Here." His instructor told him after a quick trip to a closet. Everyone had started to drift back to their work, though now that Tony had told them the answers, there wasn't much to do. "It's a slip I signed allowing you to bring your own cases from work to this class to work on." He explained and Tony's eyes lit up.

"I can work on my cases here?" he asked happily, holding the slip like it was some kind of priceless collectible.

"Get your Boss to sign it and you're good to go." The man said, significantly warmer than the tone he had been using for the whole class.

Beaming, Tony barely noticed when the signal to change classes came.

"Thank you!" he called over his shoulder and neatly put it in with his books, moving towards the shooting range. This ought to be fun.

* * *

"Gibbs, I am most certainly _not_ being silly." Abby told her Boss as she rolled her eyes and took another sharp left. The man in question sighed and ran a hand over his exhausted face.

The forensic analyst had told him she'd come up with a plan to get their newest team member to move out of his apartment faster. Gibbs was pretty sure that his threat of firing him had been enough, but Abby apparently did not agree.

"Abby, why are we going to DiNozzo's apartment?" he asked warily. Working hours had ended, but his agent was still in FLETC for another two he believed, so he was pretty sure Abby wasn't going to go talk to DiNozzo in any way.

"Aw, how did you know where I was going? I didn't even tell you!" she whined as she finally pulled into the driveway. Gibbs gave her a look, and she gave him a sweet smile.

"I just thought it would be a good idea to start packing his things for him." She told him innocently and Gibbs snorted. Innocent his ass, Abby just wanted to go through the poor kid's stuff.

"Come on Gibbs!" she wheedled "We should get started for him! Besides, we're already here, and he's going to be home in a little bit…Don't you want to know how his first day went?"

No. He really didn't _care_ as long as he passed, but Gibbs had never been one to really refuse Abby- no one did, so he sighed and got out of the car.

He better not get fined for this… Gibbs thought to himself, remembering the last time he had picked DiNozzo's lock…

_"Don't move!" someone said and Gibbs heard the click of the gun as he strolled through DiNozzo's living room, looking for the occupant of the apartment. _

_Springing towards the voice, Gibbs barely registered the man in a ski mask before throwing a clean punch right into the intruder's face, twisting the gun from his hand._

_"What the-? GIBBS!" the ski masked figure yelled and the NCIS agent froze, ripping off the mask to reveal…_

_"DiNozzo? What the **hell** are you doing?" he asked incredulously as he looked at the detective who was still being pinned down._

_"I was walking around my home before a deranged NCIS agent broke in and attacked me!" he proclaimed, struggling against Gibbs' grip._

_"You wear a ski mask around your house?"_

_"My heater is broken! I was trying to stay warm! Is there a particular reason why you are here Agent Gibbs?" he asked and the other man finally let him go, dropping him to the floor._

_"Well, as protocol says whenever I offer someone a job they have to sign this form so…here." He said, shoving the paper in his face._

_"You…broke into my house…at three in the morning…to get me to sign this?"_

_"Obviously." Gibbs said and smiled when Tony turned away in pure shock._

At least this time Gibbs didn't have to worry about being attacked by his agent in a ski mask. The door unlocked with a click and Abby trotted in happily.

"Ooooh! It is nice in here!" she beamed and let out a little gasp when she saw the DVD collection "Look at these!" she beamed, going through them all "_Dracula_? _The Usual Suspects_? _The Untouchables_? Amazing!" she said, flipping through them all as Gibbs walked through the household, grouchily remembering that DiNozzo's coffee maker wasn't up to par to make him more coffee.

Abby was beside herself with happiness, taking it upon her to pack away all of DiNozzo's DVDs, commenting on each one as she out it in a box, sending Gibbs out to get more every so often.

It was nearly an hour later when she got to it.

"What is this one?" she asked, frowning. The cover was blank and when it popped open the DVD itself looked to be a burned disc, rather than an actual DVD. Abby glanced at the huge TV and thoughtlessly popped it in. Gibbs grimaced, his gut telling him that Tony would not be pleased at them playing the damn disc for some reason. Flipping the cover back open, he saw a note stuck to the inside.

_Final Project June 1st, 1981.  
Amelia DiNozzo_

Before he could react, the screen in front of him bubbled to life.

_"Is it on? Hellooooo?"_

_"It is! Shh! Amelia go!"_ _ A pause went as the camera rearranged itself so that at first it showed one side of what looked to be a grand house, marble floors and pristine furniture amuck. Then it turned to someone else who stood  
grinning, a microphone in hand._

_"Hello America!" the girl practically sang "This Amelia DiNozzo reporting to you live!" There was a moment where the camera simply drank in her appearance, long light brown hair combed neatly with a single clip holding it away from her face. Green eyes flickered to blue as she looked directly into the screen and Gibbs couldn't help but think how she looked incredibly like Tony._

_"We are here, in governor's mansion, where the latest murder of a notorious serial killer has been found." She continued, brandishing her arms wildly._

_"Um…Since when is Dad a governor? And who was murdered here?" a new voice asked and the camera swiveled toward someone entering the room. _

_Tony._

_He was younger, only about ten or so, but it was definitely him. A baseball cap was backwards on his head as he slunk into the room and his sister pressed a finger against her lips as she scowled at him._

_"Tony! We're obviously pretending! It is for my English project!" she hissed and Tony let a small smirk play at his lips._

_"Well jeez. That's not a nice way to talk to the governor." He told her and Amelia instantly brightened._

_"Ladies and Gentleman" she addressed the camera "The governor is here now! Mr. Governor sir, how do you feel, knowing a mass murder not only killed in your home, but had access to all of your belongings?" There was a pause in which ten year old Tony attempted to put a stoic face and nodded at her._

_"I don't know what to think." He said seriously "I mean, it makes me question who I let into my house for sure, but I think the scary part is the police have no idea who it is. My life could be threatened right now and I not know it!" Nodding sympathetically, Amelia shoved the microphone back into her own face._

_"Is there anybody you suspect to be the killer?" she asked and Tony looked around cautiously before leaning towards his sister and talking in a loud whisper._

_"Well, if you keep this between you and me, I've always been suspicious of the butler." He winked at the camera and Amelia gave him an incredulous look. _

_"Well, there you have it! A dangerous criminal lurking around political figures home! Lock your doors tight folks… Who knows where he could get next? Over and out, this is Amelia DiNozzo!" she beamed and the person behind the camera laughed._

_"That's a wrap! Nice to see you Tony."_

_"You too Lea." Tony grinned and pulled his sister's hair. "I was a pretty good governor huh Melia?" he snickered._

_"Oh shut up and stick to sports." She teased, knocking off his hat "Speaking of which, did Coach James tell you-" she began chatting before the person who was holding the camera swore._

_"Aw, crap, this is still on…" they muttered and then it clicked off._

Gibbs and Abby stared.

"She got an A on the project in case you're wondering." Tony said conversationally from the doorway and Abby squealed and turned around. Gibbs said nothing, simply looking at his agent through all knowing eyes.

The kid didn't seem mad, or even upset…. Just…_ reserved_ he supposed.

"Oh, Tony! We didn't mean to! I just wanted to help you pack and the DVDs were there and that one wasn't labeled so I thought I could-"

"It's alright Abs." he said calmly, popping out the disc and putting it back into its original case. "I probably would have done the same thing…Thanks for starting the packing process." He added lightly and put a steaming box of pizza on the counter. "Help yourself." He added quietly and retreated to the other end of the house where he room sat.

Wasting no time, Gibbs followed him, signaling Abby to stay and finish with the DVDs.

"If it makes you feel any better… We already knew." Gibbs told him from the doorway as Tony started to grab more boxes and randomly start throwing his possessions inside.

"I thought you might… You and Abby seem like the kind of people who would find out."

"What happened?"

"She died." Came the short answer, and Gibbs knew not the press. Silently, he took a couple books and threw them in the box, noting with interest, how they were both history books.

"You said you were disowned when you were twelve… Your Dad didn't…Blame you? Right?" he asked after a couple more minutes. Normally, he wouldn't bring it back up, but the thought had been eating at him for a while now.

"What makes you think it wasn't my fault?" Came the dark response and Gibbs turned to look him in the eye.

"Did you decide to wake up one day and kill her?"

"Well, no."

"Then it isn't your fault." He said simply, though he knew that it wasn't as easy as that. There were some quiet moments of shuffling before…

"I saw them coming. We were walking down the road to school- our Dad had a business meeting and took the limo, and the rest of the staff was on vacation which meant we didn't have a ride- so we were walking. Amelia… She always had her head in the clouds. She would be dancing around, picking flowers, singing to herself… Not really paying attention. I just figured that was my job. I always seemed to spot everything anyway." He shrugged "The car had passed us several times, and I noticed it, but… I didn't think much of it at the time. My Dad and I had a big fight the night before and I was still upset over it." Gibbs tensed slightly when Tony's hand absent mindedly drifted towards his arm, as if remembering an injury before continuing.

"Amelia had jumped over a puddle and she twisted her ankle…We had almost another mile to school so I almost had a heart attack, and when the car pulled up and offered us a ride… I was so stupid. I realized the moment we were in that something was wrong and tried to get us out, but it was too late. Mel was still hurt and there was suddenly a gun at our heads." He sighed running a hand through his hair.

Gibbs on the other hand was sickeningly entranced by the story, refusing the comment. So Tony and his sister had been kidnapped? That was news to him…

"I had started freaking out on as they drove, so Amelia kept telling me different stories to keep me calm. I still remember them…I'm pretty sure she made them up at the top of her head." He laughed as if remembering something rather amusing….

_"…and then the wolf decided to join the army because the three little pigs had moved to Russia. Only, Little Red Riding Hood was out of therapy now and wanted her revenge for the wolf tricking her into eating her grandmother."_

_"Mel, I don't think that's how the story goes." Twelve year old Tony whispered, flinching when he heard the man with the gun shift behind him._

_"Sure it is." His sister told him, quickly rubbing a comforting thumb over his hand. "Hey, how about another story? Um…"_

_"Quiet." The man snapped at them and Tony felt his breathing become more labored. From the front seat, the man driving frowned. _

_"Derek be nice." He told them and then looked at the two shivering children. "Hey kids." He smiled "I know this has to be kind of scary huh?" after two affirmative nods he continued "We don't want to hurt you, and we aren't going to. The thing is, me and my friend Derek need money really fast…and there is no way to get it. So your Dad is going to give us some money and we are going to give you back to him. Alright?" the driver explained and Derek grunted in approval._

_"Why do you need money?" Amelia asked cautiously and Tony glanced at the driver for any signs of anger for her speaking._

_"My daughter is very sick." He confessed sadly "and I don't have any money to get her better."_

_Tony frowned, instantly feeling bad for the nice man. If Derek had a reason for wanting money, he didn't give one, simply opting to click his gun from behind them instead._

_"What's your name?" Tony asked and the nice man smiled at him._

_"I'm Peter."_

_"Hi Peter." He whispered._

"We were kept that way for a couple weeks." Tony said miserably "And you know the sad part? We loved every second of it. Peter gave us more attention than anyone else ever did, and Amelia and I really wanted to help his daughter. After a while though, the other guy, Derek got mad when our Dad didn't contact him…" there was a long pause and Tony suddenly seemed to shut down. Taking the box, he quickly looked around his room before giving a weak smile.

"Am I the only one who finds it weird that I'm packing before I even know where I'm going to be living?" he asked and Gibbs took it as a cue that the conversation was over.

"Abby is probably going to take you house hunting soon." He warned and his new agent smiled, though it did seem a bit forced.

"I…See. Should I be worried?" Raising an eyebrow, Gibbs decided not to comment.

He would know it due time anyways.

The rest of the night passed with little to no events. Abby and Tony enjoyed eating pizza and blaring the stereo as they packed, only slowing down when they got a call from someone across the street to keep the noise down. Gibbs kept silent for the most part, helping himself to food and throwing things into boxes to be packed away. He was still brooding over Tony's words and unfinished story.

He had known about Amelia… Known she was dead, but he never given it much thought as to how it happened or why. Who would have thought that a twelve year old Tony would have suffered through so much? His mother would have been dead by that time surely, and by the sound of it, his Dad mustn't have been in the picture much.

Ah, the problems that seemed to come along with his newest addition.

Looking over at the laughing man as he attempted to stuff a pizza down the back of Abby's shirt, he couldn't help but feel slightly bothered that someone with such a troubling past could act so happy.

* * *

"Hey Gibbs?" Tony asked. It was the next morning and Tony felt slight exhaustion from last night's events as he dragged himself over to his desk and pulled out the slip of paper his FLETC instructor had given him the night before.

His boss glanced up, which Tony assumed must have been a sign of acknowledgement and went on with his question.

"Could you sign this for me?" He placed the paper on the older man's desk and watched his face carefully for a reaction. Gibbs picked it up and read it, his face suspiciously blank as he grabbed a pen and scribbled down some odd line that must have been his signature.

"Did anyone else get this?" he asked conversationally and Tony smirked shaking his head. He couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of pride every time he thought about his most recent triumph.

"The guy running the class thought I was slacking off at first." He admitted "I guess the case we were reading over was supposed to take a long time to figure out, but it really wasn't that hard…" he trailed off and Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"You know we don't have any cases open right?"

"Well, we could get one at any moment and I would rather be productive in those stupid classes." He said, wrinkling his nose in distaste "Why do they have such annoying people there anyways?" he added, thinking of the girl that had attempted to challenge him.

"Ignorance always proves to be irritating." A new voice spoke and Tony turned with surprise to see a tall, balding man watching him closely. Calculating eyes appeared to be drinking in Tony's different features as he kept a hand firmly around a coffee cup. There was no doubt in the new agent's mind who this was.

"Director Morrow." He greeted and the man smiled, looking pleased that he had been identified correctly.

"Agent DiNozzo." He responded evenly, taking a few more steps into the squad room where he acknowledged Blackladder and Gibbs with a small nod of the head. "I was hoping we could talk for a moment, if it wouldn't be too much trouble." He smiled politely, which Tony returned somewhat hesitantly.

"Of course. Ready to promote me already?" Tony asked cheekily as he dumped his files on his desk and followed with little reluctance.

"Oh no, I'm afraid your still a bit too green for that." Morrow chortled good naturally and the new agent made a face.

"I wouldn't say _green_." He said defensively "I have been working in law enforcement for a good chunk of my life."

"Which would easily explain why FLETC called me, asking me why on earth I was sending a fully trained agent in their class." He said lightly "It drives them crazy when I send someone who already knows what they're doing… However it is important to follow up on procedure and protocol… A weakness of yours I hear?" Tom asked breezily and Tony considered the question carefully before answering.

"I have…Very set morals, and I don't like things like regulations getting in the way of that. I believe if someone's safety is at risk, there really shouldn't be any restrictions on what I can do to get them safe again." He finished, weighing each words carefully.

"Hm… And if those same rules are put there to protect others as well?"

"I would never hurt anyone innocent, especially while doing my job." Morrow nodded, and opened the door to his office, giving Cynthia some brief recognition as he did so. Sitting behind the desk, Tony took his own seat in front of the director.

"I am sorry to hear about your partner and his daughters." He offered as a change of subject and Tony's mouth thinned into line.

"Thank you… Alex is doing better." He said tersely, not interested into getting into something as raw and painful as Vanessa and Rachel's deaths.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Director…Do you mind if I'm a bit frank with you?" Tony asked, now losing his ability to handle much more of his new boss's tactics.

"Go ahead."

"What the hell do you want?" he asked bluntly and Morrow raised an eyebrow.

"Most people don't talk to me that way." He said. There was no anger in his voice, simply slight surprise and captivation.

"I asked permission first." DiNozzo replied honestly, leaning back into his chair. "And while I may be a fan of talking, I'm not much on listening unless it is important."

The guts of this kid… Could this be what Gibbs liked? There appeared to be no shame on his face as he idly watched with anticipation, like a chess player planning his moves. Hmm… Deciding to test the waters on the man's intelligence Morrow leaned forward.

"Do you not consider this conversation important?" he asked, making sure to underlie the threat in his tone.

"That depends on the information given. I don't judge a conversation based on who I'm talking to." Came the immediate comeback.

"Even if the person you're talking to can fire you?"

"Even people who are higher up than me on the food chain have to earn my respect sir. I've seen people who were supposedly good and well respected hurt others."

"You don't trust easily, do you?"

"Have you ever seen _Thor_ Director?" Tony suddenly asked and Morrow blinked, nodding his head at the very strange question. "Well, Loki was Thor's brother right? He should have trusted him more than anybody else- and he did- only to be stabbed in the back. Or, what about _Goodfellas_? _The Departed_? Oh! How about _Scream_?" Tony asked excitedly attempted to spend the next few moments explaining how each of the movies dealt with someone who should have been trusted, stabbing everyone in the back.

"I see your point." Tom smiled, a little more understanding of the man clicking into place. "Alex Smith…You trusted him though, correct?"

"With every fiber of my existence." Came the solemn reply. Noting the unwavering loyalty in his tone, Morrow linked his fingers together.

"Well, congratulations on the job Agent DiNozzo. I'm very pleased we could meet and make an acquaintance of one another. If Gibbs chose you, I'm sure you must be something special."

"Thank you sir." Tony grinned, letting his body relax slightly. His posture had seemed so laid backed, Tom hadn't noticed the rigidness before.

"And who knows? Maybe in a few years' time you could be in my shoes as well." He said, throwing a bone to the dog and Tony gave an interested look back.

"That would be… Different. I've never been much for politics."

"Neither has your Boss. I'm beginning to see why he hired you."

"Really? I've been trying to figure that out for a while now. Care to share?" he asked and Morrow stood up, opening the door to signal the agent's departure.

"You two…Are very much alike." He smiled and had to work to keep himself from laughing at the rather dumbfounded look on his face.

* * *

***Present Time***

"Alike? Really? Tony and Gibbs?" Tim asked, cocking his head at the thought as he studied the two men. He couldn't really see too much of a resemblance, physically or otherwise. Gibbs was so silent and serious and Tony was…Well he was Tony.

"I _told_ you Anthony." Ducky interjected and Ziva gave an astonished look.

"You've told him that before?" she asked and the elderly doctor nodded with obvious pleasure that his conviction appeared to be right.

"Many times. He refused to believe me."

All eyes turned to Tony, who, for once looked uncomfortable at all the stares. Gibbs himself seemed to consider him critically, though his opinion on the matter of being compared to his agent was undetectable.

"Umm... Right." Tony muttered, now squirming under everyone's scrutiny. "Can we move on please? If I remember correctly, we still have a whole case to go through."

"I would think you would want to avoid talking about that whole fiasco." Gibbs smirked and Tony turned to level his glare onto him.

"Yeah, well…Well… It wasn't _that_ bad." He muttered spitefully and his boss rolled his eyes, though there was something that lingered in his eyes that almost posed as worry as he considered the past events.

"If you don't think disobeying a direct order and getting held hostage is bad, than nah. It wasn't bad at all." He snapped, his tone sounding slightly frustrated at his second's careless tone.

"I'm not saying it wasn't bad! It just wasn't…that….bad…." Tony tried and Alex gave him a sideways look.

"Held hostage?" he asked with slight concern.

"I took care of it." Gibbs responded and Tony gave a baffled glance at why his boss had needed to say anything at all on the subject. The tone almost sounded… _Challenging _towards Alex? No. He was being stupid. Tony shook his head, dismissing it to imagination. What would Gibbs have against Alex anyway? They got along fine.

A soft knocking interrupted his thoughts as Jimmy scrambled up, looking suddenly flustered.

"Michelle! I mean, um, Agent Lee. Wow. You're here, what a surprise. Well, I mean, not really a surprise if you need something- not that you would come down here if you _didn't_ need something-"

"Hey Lee." Tony cut him off, smiling to himself. Could Palmer really be any more obvious? The others didn't seem to notice though as they greeted the agent from legal.

"I heard you guys were still down here. Mind if I join you?" she asked and Jimmy wasted no time getting her up to speed, blushing as he did so.

Huh. Tony figured he would have to confront his friend later about the whole romance thing. He doubted whether anyone would approve- Gibbs rule number 12 always seemed to influence many of the other employees- and wanted to hear just exactly was going on between them. Over the past few months, Jimmy had become one heck of a friend, and there were times he wasn't entirely for sure about Agent Lee…

"So…Where were we?" Scarlett prodded gently and Ducky jumped, momentarily distracted.

"Ah, let's see here…Oh yes. After Anthony's chat with our old director, he had another run in with that chap Mark Hemmings…"

* * *

***Gasp!* Oh my gosh that was A LOT of writing! I think that might have been the longest chapter that I've ever written...in my life. Ever. 20 word pages! 20! And I believe about 9,000 words? Whew! You guys have been all waiting so patiently though, I knew I had to get it done. **

**Oh, and I have good news!**

**Felicity finally got out of this hospital this week! I am so incredibly happy right now I could cry! Thanks to everyone who has been giving my their support on that (:**

**Okay, moving onto NCIS news. I've been a bit behind on episodes, but the one I'm about to watch next had McGees father in it!? About time! Ten years he's been out of action...Well, McGee didn't become a real member of the cast until the second or third season but that is still a really long time! I just finished watching _Seek_ and that was probably the most emotional one for me that I've seen in awhile. I had to get my puppy to come up with me so I could finish watching it :P **

**Well, that's about it for my mega chapter. Hopefully all of you enjoyed! I feel like I am supposed to say something else, but for the life of my I can't remember...Ah well. See you guys later!**

**Peace out,**

**~Kensi **


	6. Chapter 6

~Chapter 6~

***Ten Years Ago***

Tony wasn't for sure at first how he got down from the top of the director's staircase to the bottom so fast, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out.

"Have a nice trip DiNozzo?" Hemmings asked smugly as he peered down at him from the top of the steps, leaning against the wall.

"Wow. Your third grade insults really impress me." He answered, trying to brush off the humiliation that he had just been tripped down a flight of stairs. Luckily though, none of his teammates seemed to be there to witness anything. Part of Tony reasoned that that might have been why Hemmings decided to attack in the first place.

"Have a nice talk with the director?" Hemmings continued and Tony drew a deep breath, trying to reach to find his inner Zen mode. "I bet you simply _loved_ that. Getting all nice and cozy. I really hope you remember my deal DiNozzo. You have two more days to quit- got it?"

"Newsflash for you hot shot." Tony snapped "I'm not going _anywhere_. So shut up. Grow up. And bother someone who gives a damn about what you say."

Turning with anger, he did not see that after Mark's outraged look, he had smirk plastered on there as well. Moving towards his desk, he almost didn't notice that the first drawer was practically bursting open.

"What the-?" he muttered and turned, seeing that Hemmings had disappeared into the director's office. After making sure that there was no one else who could see what was going on, Tony opened the drawer and froze.

Packets of cigars had been stuffed into the drawer, along with packets and pamphlets all dealing with lung cancer. Pushing that to the side, Tony felt his fingers curl around a newspaper article in which the picture showed a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and sparkling green eyes laughing into the camera.

**_Billionaire's Wife Robyn DiNozzo Loses Battle with Lung Cancer_ **it read clearly on the top, the other articles all similar.

After taking a deep breath, Tony grabbed the hastily written note that had made its way in there as well.

_DiNozzo,_

_Do you honestly think you are the only person who can dig up dirt on someone else? My grievances on Mommy dearest. Though it may have been for the best she smoked herself to death- probably to get away from you hm? I wonder what else I could find out about you within two days?_

Shaking, Tony clenched his hands and stuffed all the papers in the trashcan, absolutely furious. He would _end_ that _stupid_, _conceited, selfish_ son of a bitch! No, he would…Would…

"What is _that_?" Tony jolted, looking up to meet steely blue eyes that did not seem at all happy.

"Gibbs! I-" He paused, looking down at his hands to see that now he had thrown away all the paper, all that were left were the cigars overflowing his desk. "This isn't what it looks like." He said weakly, all too aware of his boss' reaction to the time he had smoked one time, let alone _this_.

"It isn't what it looks like." He started again but Gibbs held up an impatient hand.

"I don't want to hear it." He said harshly "I can't control what you do outside of work, but if I _ever_ see anything like this in a federal building or in the field again, you're done. Understand?"

"But-"

"_Understand_?" Feeling it pointless to argue, Tony sighed and nodded, allowing the rest of the vicious items to fall into the trash with a small thud.

Bloody brilliant. This was already the…Third? Yeah, third time he had been threatened to be fired this week. His _first_ week. At this rate, he shouldn't even bother apartment hunting with Abby.

Feeling slightly dejected, he threw himself into his chair, licking his wounds still when Gibbs left and Vivian came back.

"Hey there _piccolo_." She greeted and Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you throwing Italian words at me?" he asked her and she smiled, seemingly satisfied.

"I can't really call you probie, and your Italian." She explained and a despite his bad mood, a small smile tugged at the other agent's lips.

"So you choose the Italian word for _little_?"

"I could always look up the word for annoying." She offered and he quickly made a face.

"I would rather not be called _molesto_ of all things." He told her and she gave a laugh.

"Ouch. I thought that was the Spanish word though?"

"Italian and Spanish all go hand and hand." He shrugged and Vivian nodded, settling down at her desk.

"How was FLETC?"

"It was fine. I have to go back tomorrow though…" Tony grumbled, feeling a twinge of annoyance at the horrible thought of being forced back into boring classes again. Vivian gave him a look of sympathy and went back to her work. Sighing, Tony went back to his desk, digging out the last article to throw in the trash. Looking down he saw that the photo they had used in this article had him in it as well. His mother was sitting on a brick wall, Tony by her feet grinning broadly into the camera as Amelia leaned next to him, a bunch of flowers in her hand…

_"Don't move!" the rough man snarled, jerking Tony's arm out of the room. Amelia was by his side in a second, instantly attempting to pry his fingers off of her brother._

_"Let him go!" she shrieked and Tony's eyes widened as he saw the man's hand go back, but was too late to stop it. Derek's hand whipped around, slapping Amelia square in the cheek. She staggered back, a vivid red print showing on her delicate features._

_"You hurt her!" Tony cried, horrified. With all the might his young body could muster, he yanked away and quickly went over to his twin, grabbing her arm to keep her balance._

_"What's going on here?" Peter suddenly came out, looking down at the scene with a frown. Tony instantly turned, his eyes full of vivid rage._

_"He hurt her!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Absolute hatred bored into his voice as he said the words, and Peter looked startled at the quick display of temper._

_"Derek," he asked "What are you doing?" Running a hand through his greasy hair, Derek narrowed his pig eyes at his accomplice._

_"It has been weeks Peter, and the brats' father hasn't even contacted us back. We did it your way, now we're going to do it mine." Peter blinked, his eyes widening at his words and Tony glared at him, standing protectively between the man and his sister._

_"They're kids Derek." He said quietly and the other man rose a hand._

_"I don't want to hear it. If you don't want the money. Fine. Drop out. But I'm getting my cut, even if I have to murder these little bastards in the process. Clear?" When Peter didn't respond, Derek reached forward and gripped Tony's forearm, yanking him forward like a ragdoll before using his other hand to drag Amelia along. "Come on!" he snapped "We're taking you to your new home."_

"Tony? Tooonnnnyyyy? Are you alright?" Jumping, the NCIS agent looked around, slightly surprised when he saw Abby standing in front of his desk, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Ah! Abby! Oh…Jeez. Sorry, guess I didn't see you there." He stuttered out and the Goth looked at him suspiciously, her eyes trying to catch a peek at the paper still crumpled up in his hand. Seeing her drifting attention, Tony quickly moved on and threw the paper in the garbage.

"Sorry. What do you need?" he asked her again and this time her focus went back on him. Green eyes lit up with happiness as she shoved a long list in his face.

"We're going house hunting!" she beamed "I got you a whole list right here for this weekend. If you have any others in mind you'll have to add them all."

"Oh." Tony said, blinking. He had known Abby promised to help him but… He had never had someone so eager to spend time with him before, unless you counted Amelia or the women who wanted to sleep with him. Abby must have sensed that her kindness had thrown him off because without warning she enveloped him in a tight hug, scaring the daylights out of him. "Jesus Abby!" he gasped and tried to jump back, but she had clung on too tight.

"We're going to have fun." She beamed, finally letting go of him, and without waiting for an answer, dashed away. Still slightly shock, Tony at down.

Like he said before. NCIS people were very strange.

Not that he minded, Tony decided. Strange just may turn out to be a good thing after all.

* * *

"You look rather tense Jethro." Fornell observed with a small smirk as he and his agents gathered in the elevator. "Your boy already got you in a bad mood?" the answer came in the form of a fierce glare, given by Gibbs. He was annoyed, to say the least, about how he had found Tony this morning with hands stuffed with cigars this morning. It either meant that his agent was addict, which certainly would not work with him, or someone was trying to pick a fight with DiNozzo, which wasn't good as well. Gibbs decided he would try to keep his thoughts away from it at the moment, knowing that both reasons were going to cause one hell of a headache later.

Nothing was said the rest of the way up and the moment the doors opened, the NCIS agent stormed out, the FBI following closely behind.

"Blackladder! DiNozzo!" he snapped and the two people in bullpen snapped their attention towards their boss. "We got a case."

Vivian sighed, putting down the report she had been looking over, her reaction depressed compared to that of her partner.

"Really? A case? A hot case?" he beamed, barely able to contain his excitement. Gibbs didn't answer him though, and his face fell the moment he saw the other three people in the room.

"Fornell." He said, sounding much like a man coming back to face an old foe.

"DiNozzo!" Tobias cried, looking shocked "What are you doing out of Baltimore?" he asked, throwing a wink towards Gibbs.

"I work here." Came the stiff reply and Fornell gave a wide eyed look of disbelief.

"Well will you look at that? Congratulations." He offered and Tony gave a terse nod of thanks.

"What are you doing here?" he asked warily "And who are they?"

"Oh? Them? They're my team. Agent Sacks and Agent Lisbon." He introduced "We are here because of your case. Haven't you heard? We will be working on it together." Fornell told him mockingly and Tony instantly turned to Gibbs for confirmation. After a brief nod was given, Tony made a face.

"Of course." He grumbled "My first case and I have to work with a bunch of baboons." If Fornell heard this, he ignored it as he pushed past Tony and went straight towards his colleague with a smirk on his face. Agent Sacks, on the other hand, held no such discretion.

"Baboons?" he asked incredulously and Tony simply smiled at him before making chattering noises. "Oh that's mature." He mumbled and the new NCIS agent laughed, making his way next to Vivian who was watching the scene unfold without comment.

"Agent Blackladder." Tobias acknowledged her.

"Agent Fornell." Came the warm reply and Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"No more formalities. I want to get a sit rep on this serial killer now." He ordered, giving everyone in the room a withering glare. While Tobias rolled his eyes, everyone else seemed to shrink back from the older man, par Tony who was attempting to snag the file himself from Sacks.

"It says here that this guy has killed four people in the last year." He read when he had managed to pry the other agent's hands off of it. "Jeez. Four victims in a year and you haven't caught the son of a bitch? Am I going to have to save the day _again_?" he asked audaciously and the lead agent turned to look at Gibbs.

"Is he really going to bring that up?" he asked flatly and Tony's grin broadened.

"Oh, you know the one right? The one where you came in, tried to knock me off the case because you big, bad FBI agents deal with the scary serial killers? Only, after all the months of work, a rookie came and got your guy after three weeks." Sacks blinked, and looked at his Boss with horror.

"Did that really happen?" he asked and Gibbs couldn't help but remember what Tony's old partner had said when they had first met. Ever since the case with the FBI, people been watching the kid to see how he would turn out…

"Sadly." Tobias said with a distinct frown. "Read the damn file DiNutso."

"Nozzo." Tony snapped back "It isn't that hard Toby. D. I. N. O. Z. Z. O. There. I even spelled it out for you."

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs warned and Tony made a gesture.

"See? _He_ gets it! Uh, my bad sir- I mean Boss. Moving on. It says here that according to witnesses the victim would always be a bar sometime between five to eight the  
night they were murdered. All the victims were between the ages of twenty to thirty. All male, Caucasian, with brown hair and green eyes. Huh. Guess I'm not going drinking tonight." He added with a frown as he read the descriptions.

"Did you plan on going drinking when you had work the next day DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. Wouldn't dream of drinking on a school night Gibbs." He grinned and went back to the file. "Each victim was found in a different area…Blah, blah, blah…Aside from appearances it doesn't look like they had any real connections… Toby is this really all you got?"

"We're sending out forensics and autopsies to you now." Sacks snapped as he ripped the file out of Tony's hand who gave a smug grin in return.

"Alright." Gibbs said snatching the file from Sacks and looking over it himself "Blackladder, go down and get the autopsy and forensics reports to go over with Abby and Ducky. Make sure every little thing is right. DiNozzo, we're going to go interview the witnesses again." The Lisbon agent looked as though she was about to argue to Gibbs pointed to folder at her "I don't give a damn what you three do." He added "Just tell me first."

* * *

***Present Day***

"WAIT!" Tony suddenly yelled and everybody turned to him, looking with raised eyebrows.

"What?" Ziva asked and Tony gave them all a wicked grin.

"This is when Gibbs throws me out of the car isn't it?" he asked. Nobody said anything for a moment and then came the wind of reactions and chatters, before Scarlett's came, louder and darker than any of them put together.

"You did _what_?" she asked Gibbs, who rolled his eyes and leaned farther back in his chair.

"I didn't throw him out of the car." he said sounding exasperated. He waited a moment, to make sure his words were true as the memory came back to him, and snorted. "Yeah, I definitely did not throw him out."

"Well, Anthony has the right idea." Ducky interjected, smiling briefly.

"So you _did_ throw him out?" Alex asked, frowning and Gibbs narrowed his eyes.

"No. I didn't." he responded tersely and Abby quickly spoke up before an argument could assemble.

"You'll see how it went when we get to that part of the story."

"I thought it was funny." Tony shrugged and Abby sighed fondly.

"You would." She grinned at him "But for everyone else it was a bit scary."

"You weren't even there when it happened!"

"No, but I _did_ see you when you got back… That is when I first realized it." Abby told everyone solemnly and after a chorus of '_whats'_ she continued "When I first realized Tony was crazy." She said in such a way that made everyone wonder how bad the situation really was.

"I don't get how you decided I was crazy from that…" Tony frowned, looking slightly puzzled and this time it was Ducky who replied fiercely.

"Anthony, one does not get thrown out of car and then come back joking about it afterward, especially when they are bleeding profusely as you were."

"So you did throw him out of the car!" Alex accused and before Gibbs could get angry Tony interjected.

"Cool it Alex. You'll understand once you hear the whole story. I'm fine." He told him and put out his arms as if to demonstrate whether or not this was true.

"Those words don't have the same weight on it when you use them." Alex told him with a frown and Tony grinned.

"You know me so well!" he cried dramatically "Oh Alex, what would I ever do in my life without someone as wonderful as you?" Tony continued, throwing himself from the chair onto his knees for the effect. Small chuckles came from everyone in the room aside from a certain senior agent, who was looking down at the scene with clear resentment.

Abby noticed the expression and frowned, turning her head carefully from Tony and Alex to Gibbs before a small look of understanding graced her features. Resisting the urge to coo at the adorableness of it all, she made a mental note to talk to her favorite silver fox about it later.

"So…Did Tony get thrown out a car or not?" Tim asked, drawing everyone back to the original topic. For once, everyone went completely quiet and looked at Ducky, who seemed surprised that they would let him continue in peace.

"Oh, so, let me see…Ah yes! Well, the drive to the witness' homes was actually quite uneventful…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"You know what this reminds me of?" Gibbs glanced over at his new agent and wondered exactly how many times he would be hearing that while he worked with the man.

"_Seven_." Tony continued fondly, as if the movie were his child "It has a rookie and veteran working to catch a serial killer. Not that I'm really a rookie, but I'm…Rookie-er than you I guess. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt…Can't top that. Never. Anyways, so the killer uses the Seven Deadly sins as his way of getting things done. Great movie… Of course it has Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, and then you add Kevin Spacey and Gwyneth Paltrow to the mix? You can't screw that up."

"Do you need a minute or can you pull your head out of your ass?" Gibbs told him as he passed yet another driver.

"I'm on it, I'm on it…" Tony grumbled looking at the files again "You know, FBI has already interviewed these witnesses."

"Rule number three, never believe what your told, always double check." Gibbs told him "And you can read what a person says, but not their reaction." Seeming to accept this, Tony went back to the file and began to read, every so often talking to himself.

"That wouldn't work…If they went home together maybe? They would have had to meet somewhere…" he mused and Gibbs couldn't help but find the situation slightly amusing. Tony didn't seem to realize he talking out loud, and Gibbs wasn't about to tell him. It was interesting either way, to hear what he was thinking.

"Over and Out…Deadly Sins…Knock em' Dead…Slit Throat…Did Fornell seriously not get this?" Sighing Tony made another note on the paper and turned the page "Alright, so…" he read the next few lines before closing his eyes and tapping his pencil on the tip of his nose. "Boyfriend, brother, cousin, ex…" he listed off and Gibbs shook his head. He had no idea what Tony was talking about, but figured he would hear about it soon enough.

Pulling into the driveway, Gibbs wasted no time getting out and moving towards the witness' house. Tony, for his part, didn't notice for a good ten seconds Gibbs was gone before jumping up and getting out of the car himself.

"You could have told me we were here." He mumbled, his face slightly petulant. Rolling his eyes (Gibbs noticed he had begun to do that a lot lately) he hit the doorbell and waited.

When the door opened, it took Gibbs a second to process that no one was there. Then another to look down and see two rather large brown eyes staring up at him.

"Hey there." Gibbs smiled at the little boy "Is your Mom home?" he asked, looking into the house, which looked as though it was a war zone. Toys and clothes were everywhere, and yelling could be heard in the background as well as laughing.

"No." the boy said proudly "I'm in charge here." The kid must have been around ten years old, and puffed out his chest with pride as he made the announcement.

"I see." Gibbs told him, eyeing the place over again "Who are you with?"

"My sisters. They're annoying." He added with a wrinkled nose "My Mom is supposed to be back in five minutes." Gibbs smiled at him again, and Tony choked back a noise of disbelief. He hadn't known Gibbs very long sure, but… He had never seen the man smile so much in his life!

"Really? Do you mind if we come in and wait?"

"Hm…Well…Since you asked nicely I guess you can. Take a seat anywhere." The kid said, gesturing around the messy house. Tony hesitantly stepped inside, biting his lower lip slightly as he did so.

"Are you a movie star?" the kid suddenly asked and Tony looked down, totally caught off guard.

"What?" he asked bewildered and looked at Gibbs as though expecting him to clarify.

"A _movie star_? Are you one of those? Cause I've seen you on TV bunches. Well, not a whole lot of bunches, but Mommy says you're cute so she keeps playing the same TV show over and over again."

Alarmed, Tony quickly took a step back, shaking his head. Usually, he would love female attention. However, considering this house was full of kids and this woman _could_ potentially be stalking him…Bit of a turn off. Letting his memory run back, he tried to think of where this woman might have found him on TV anyway, before remembering the times he used to be the spokesman for Baltimore.

"Um…No, I'm not." He said, feeling his face burn. The boy looked at him with obviously disappointed features before moving onto Gibbs.

"I know where _you're_ from." He said accusingly and Tony smiled to himself, wondering what this kid would come up with for his boss.

"What's that?" Gibbs asked and the little boy nodded solemnly.

"You escaped from the Rodeo didn't you?" he asked and before he could stop himself, Tony burst out laughing. At the sound, two more little heads popped from out of the kitchen and looked over at them.

"Ethan, who did you let in here?" one asked as the other excitedly pointed towards Tony.

"It's the movie star!" she cried out.

"Could this get anymore creepy?" Tony muttered and when all three of them looked at him, he quickly moved behind Gibbs for protection. Hey, kids were kind of scary. What could he say?

"They're just kids DiNozzo." Gibbs told him exasperatedly and Tony gave him a look that showed obvious distrustfulness towards the three little people staring at them.

"Hi Mister! My name is Pop."

"Pop?" Tony couldn't help but ask, what kind of a name is _Pop_?

"Well, my _real_ name is Poppy!" she said defensively and glared at Tony through two jeweled eyes. The other girl giggled and pushed Pop back.

"I'm Cameron." She smiled and pointed at her brother "And that's Ethan. He thinks he's big and bad now _just_ because he's ten, but he isn't really. Can I have your autograph for Mommy? She likes your movies." She added to Tony, who swallowed and looked temptingly at the door.

"Don't you even _think_ about it." Gibbs snapped and Tony groaned.

"Hey! I'm home!" Someone else yelled as the back door slammed shut. To Tony's relief, it sounded like an adult. To his horror, it appeared to be the creepy kids' creepy mom. "What the _Hell_ happened here? Can't you three keep the house clean for five measly minutes while I get my hair permed? Jesus, it's like I- Oh. Hello." She froze as she entered the room.

Kim Harrison looked like every guys dream vision.

Perfect body, perfect skin, hair, eyes, lips…Everything. Tony was just about to overlook the whole stalking thing until he saw her eyes latch on greedily to his body before lighting up in recognition.

Oh dear lord…

"Detective DiNozzo!" she cried, sounding shocked. Realizing that she shouldn't know his name, she quickly seemed to backtrack "Oh, sorry. I just saw you on TV a little while ago and for some reason the name stuck."

Trying his best not to run, Tony gave a wry, awkward laugh and held out his badge.

"Um, Agent DiNozzo now… Could we ask you a few questions about your brother?" he asked and Kim instantly scowled.

"I suppose." She said stiffly "What would you like to know about him?"

"You get along?" Gibbs asked when her attitude went snappy and Kim placed both hands on her hips and threw her hair back with an irritated huff.

"I don't mean to speak ill of the dead…But my brother was a bit of a whore if you ask me." Tony blinked and looked down at her three children that each wore completely different features and then back at their mother.

"_He_ was a whore?" he asked somewhat incredulously and Kim nodded giving him a shy smile.

"I just assumed he slept with the wrong gal." she said sweetly, sidling up so she was closer to him. Giving a nervous laugh, he stepped back and attempted another question.

"Was there-"

"Why did you stop showing up on television?" she interrupted him and before he could even fathom a way to come up with an answer, Gibbs cut in coolly.

"DiNozzo, maybe you should wait outside." He told him and Tony looked at him, alarmed at slightly hurt at the implication. Opening his mouth to argue, his boss gave him a glare that quickly stated he better do what he was told…Or else.

Great. First interview and thanks to a psychopathic slut, he had made a bad impression. Scowling, he went back to his files and continued highlighting, somewhat violently until Gibbs came out about twenty minutes later.

"You cannot seriously blame me for that!" he cried out the moment Gibbs shut the door closed.

"Whatever you say pretty boy." Came the dry response and Tony groaned, trying to shove the embarrassment aside.

"It wasn't like I went out of my way to seduce her or anything! She has me taped!" he cried, his voice reaching a few octaves higher as he reached the end of the sentence.

"About that. You never mentioned you were Baltimore's poster boy. Do you realize that can interfere with undercover work?"

"What? No. I mean, I did it a couple times. Not because I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I like attention, but my Captain usually made me do it when I was in the middle of a case, which was rather annoying. I think I only ended up there three or four times. It wasn't exactly memorable either unless you're like Crazy Kim and recorded it." He shuddered, not wanting to know what she did watching those tapes.

"Well, she basically said the same thing as she did in the files." Gibbs sighed as he took a sharp left, slamming Tony into the car door. "And we have about six more of these people to do."

"You will let me at least do _one_ right?" Tony inquired, his eyes drilling holes into the side of Gibbs' head as he shrugged.

"Maybe if you can do it right." He told him and Tony gave him a look. He was just about to start ranting again about how it was _not_ his fault that women were just drawn to him- even if a couple were a bit over the edge. It was like paparazzi, sometimes it was a gift, other times a curse. Gibbs slammed on the breaks in front of a bar.

"I'm guessing we're here." Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair and Gibbs looked at him with a 'duh' expression before hopping out.

"Alright DiNozzo." Tony told himself "Round Two."

* * *

As it turned out, Tony didn't get to do round two. Or three. Or four.

He wasn't entirely sure why, but Gibbs seemed set on making Tony totally miserable. He couldn't get a single word in without being glared at, cut off, or hit. It was in all honesty, quite annoying. After the fourth interview with a bar tender, Tony had gotten into the car and slammed the door a bit harder the necessary, completely ignoring his boss.

Gibbs, for his part, didn't seem to mind his agent's attitude. On the contrary, he looked almost amused, which irritated Tony even more.

"What was the point of bringing me along if I can't _do_ anything?" he finally broke down and asked, when he couldn't look at the files any longer. Gibbs smirked, looking as though he had been waiting for Tony to fold and demand an explanation for a while now.

"You can do the next one." He said simply and Tony blinked and stared at him.

"Wha-? Wait, _what_? A few minutes ago you kept shutting me down and suddenly I can do one now? What changed!?" he demanded and Gibbs gave him a look before jerking the wheel sharply to make a left.

"Would you listen to me if I told you how to interview someone?" he asked and Tony frowned.

"I don't know. I already know how to question someone though, so I don't really see the point." He said slightly baffled.

"Hm. Well, after those four interviews would you still interview someone the way you usually do?" Gibbs asked and Tony considered the question. His first thought was yes, of course. But then he thought again. The way Gibbs had talked to people was very different from his own, but Tony did pick up on some things the older man was better at than him. While Tony had perfected the art of extracting information from someone without them realizing it, he still wasn't able to get his tone or posture to scream 'urgent! Need this information now!' which meant sometimes the interviews took longer than they really should. Gibbs was good at that. Tony had noticed the way he stood and how he used certain words…

"Oh." Tony said in surprise, realizing Gibbs had been, in his own weird way, teaching and showing him what to do. "Huh. I see what you did there." He commented thoughtfully and if he didn't know any better, he would have sworn Gibbs smiled.

* * *

To Tony's relief, Velma Booze and her husband Daryl were not stalkers. They seemed like a completely normal people, which was nice. He already felt a bit nervous with anticipation for the interview and didn't want it to be any more strenuous than it had to be.

"Could I get you anything to drink?" Velma asked quietly and Tony gave her a small smile as he refused and sat down across from her. Looking at her fragile state, and her husband's tense shoulders, he decided it might be a good idea to start off nice and easy.

"I'm sorry to hear about your son." He told them sincerely "I was hoping you would be able to fill me on exactly everything that happened the night he died." Shaking, Velma bit her lip and looked down.

"We already told you everything." She whispered hoarsely and Tony swallowed at the pain in her voice.

"I know, and I'm sorry we're making you go through this again. It's just that we're a different agency than who came before and we like to make sure our investigations are as thorough as possible." At this, both people nodded and the husband spoke first.

"Daniel was coming back from a funeral. His best friend had just died in a car accident and he was absolutely devastated. He was supposed to come straight home before heading back off to Virginia when we got a call saying that he was going to a bar for a couple hours."

"And this bar would be called…Over and Out, correct?" Tony asked as he flipped through his notes. Daryl nodded and leaned back a little more into the sofa.

"We tried to convince him to leave, but he was too upset. In the end I went over to go grab him before he did anything stupid. I got there, but he wasn't there."

"Was the bar relatively empty or were there lots of people?"

"Um…I wouldn't say a whole lot. Fifteen to twenty. No one really caught my attention."

"That's fine, what did you do next?" Tony asked and the man tensed.

"I called him again and he answered saying he had left the bar already with a friend. When I asked who, he wouldn't tell me, he just hung up… We got the call the next morning saying he was dead."

At the last sentence Velma howled in agony, sobbing into her husband's shoulder as she clutched a tissue in her hand. Tony remained silent for a couple minutes to let her calm down before speaking again.

"Do you know if this was the first time your son was drinking at this bar, or did he go there often?"

"He had gone over there a few times with some friends. Not very often though, Daniel wasn't a heavy drinker." Daryl answered quietly and Tony jumped when two hands found themselves on his wrists. Looking up, he saw Velma was gripping him tightly.

"You look like him." She admitted quietly and Tony swallowed, unsure of how to respond "I heard the others did too… Please take care of yourself Agent DiNozzo…I don't think I can stand knowing another dead man." Completely blown away, Tony nodded slowly waiting until she let go to get up and thank them both. Silently, he followed Gibbs back to the car.

"What did you get from that?" Gibbs asked as they backed out and Tony looked over at him.

"That they were really upset about their son dying." He frowned "I don't think I've seen anyone so broken before."

"You think DiNozzo? Their child was just murdered."

"Yeah it's just…I don't think I've ever seen anyone act so upset over their kid getting knocked before."

"How many years have you worked with homicides?" Gibbs asked skeptically.

"Peoria was just main police stuff." He said defensively "and Philly was narcotics, though I did see a fair amount of dead people, I just didn't have to deal with the families. Baltimore I didn't interview the families too often, Alex did that, I just did the witnesses on site." Gibbs seemed to accept this answer though, it looked as though something was bothering him a moment before he spoke.

"You never seen a parent that upset before?" he asked and Tony shook his head "Even when your sister died?" he asked, not very tactfully. Tony blinked and shrugged.

"I believe my father's reaction was something of the lines of 'well if you didn't do anything to save her, she must not have been worth it anyway'." He answered quietly and Gibbs clenched his teeth, but didn't comment. Uncomfortable with the silence, the new agent quickly decided it was a better idea to grab another set of files to read through. Looking around he sighed when he saw them in the back seat and quickly undid his seat belt.

Gibbs gave him a look, and Tony simply gestured to the papers in the back of the car. Turning his body so he could reach, he didn't seem to notice the sharp turn they were coming up on until he flew all the way into the back seat, tumbling forward. Desperate for something to grab, he felt the handle and latched onto it, realizing a moment before the door opened that that was a bad idea.

It took Gibbs about ten seconds to process that his agent wasn't back up front with him, another five to realize his wasn't in the car, and three to gain an understanding that he had just fallen out.

Spinning the car back around, and thanking God that they were on a road where no other cars were, the ex-marine floored it feeling a bit of relief when he saw his agent standing there with all the files in his hands.

"Hey boss." He said causally as he opened the front door "Thanks for coming back. Though I don't think I would have too much of a problem hitch hiking…This face is hard to say no to." Snatching the files from the younger man, Gibbs grabbed his upper arm and turned him to he could assess any damage inflicted.

Aside from some torn clothes, and a nasty cut that was going up his arm and bleeding profusely he didn't see anything too horrible. The bottom of his chin was already beginning to bruise and the heel of his hand was an angry red.

"How the hell do you fall out of car?" Gibbs asked with a complete lack of understanding. Tony opened his mouth, perhaps to answer, but Gibbs held up a hand.

"I don't want to hear it… Put your damn seat belt on and _don't_ move. Ducky is going to be annoying enough already." He sighed.

"Aw, you don't have to take me to Duck boss. He's got dead people to work on. Besides, I like this look. I think it makes me tough don't you think? Kind of like someone you would see on _Fast and Furious_ right? God I would love to be in that movie…All the cars…." He looked lost in reminiscence "What should I tell people?" he asked suddenly and Gibbs gave him a strange look.

"That you fell out of car?"

"No! I mean, obviously, but I have to make it sound better than that! How about…We were chasing a suspect and I got onto the roof of the car and did that thing where the jump across the tops of cars, you know? Anyways, I got to the suspect and we had this fight in which he brought out a bomb. I knew it was the end so jumped out of the car right as the explosion came and BAM!" Tony yelled, clapping his hands for affect "He blew up! Good huh?"

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Gibbs asked before quickly adding "Don't answer that."

Tony just grinned

* * *

"Oh my god!" Lauren gasped, dropping her papers once the elevator doors slid open. At her exclamation, almost every single agent turned heads to see what she was looking at.

"Uh…Hi." Tony said awkwardly as Gibbs ignored everyone and made his way to the squad room.

"What happened?" Lauren asked, horrified as the other agent's batter shape. A couple other agents drifted closer to see what caused the damage and from a couple feet away, Mark Hemmings smirked.

"Well…I learned an important lesson today everyone." Tony said as he made his way forward and there was a pause in which everyone waited for an answer.

"When Leroy Jethro Gibbs says he's going to throw you out of a car…He isn't kidding."

* * *

**And I'm back (: I don't really have too much to say today except maybe this...**

**WHAT THE HECK!? I don't believe I have EVER been so upset in my life! The last episode...? What. On. Earth. Was. That!? My poor baby! Tony! How could they DO that to him? I mean, Tony and Ziva had this whole big connecting deal where she realized he was there for her and then she went to MCGEE? Don't get me wrong, I love me some Timmy, but seriously? Why would she...And she just...and then...UGH! I am SO upset right now. Okay Kensi...Breathe. **

**Sorry, I just don't understand why Ziva wouldn't trust Tony. Especially when he was so obvious about how concerned he was for her after he Dad died and what not. Plus, he was the one he kept noticing something was off, and Tim played dumb... This makes me so sad...**

**I think I'm no longer a Tiva fan. I was on the edge before, but now I decided I would never want them together, which sucks because it looks like after seeing the promo for "Berlin" that that might be exactly what happens...Smh. NCIS writers, I'm not sure I like you guys right now...**

**Alright, I'm done ranting. Sorry about that...Just...Ugh. Moving back to this story, please review (: You know I love 'em!**

**-Kensi**


	7. Chapter 7

~Chapter 7~

"Anthony, I can't exactly say I'm pleased to see you." Ducky sighed as Tony waved at him from the autopsy doors "Good heavens! What did you do to yourself!?" he cried when he got a full view of Tony's current state. He had expected the younger man to come to him for injuries, but he couldn't help but wonder how on earth he could have gotten this much damage from speaking to witnesses.

"I didn't do it!" the man in question replied defensively "It was Gibbs!"

"Jethro!?" Ducky replied, looking completely outraged "_Jethro_ did this to you!?" Sensing that Ducky just might attempt to go up to the bullpen and smack his boss, Tony decided to quickly clarify.

"I was just joking Ducky. Gibbs didn't hurt me, not that I'm really hurt by any means. I mean this is just a scratch." He said gesturing to his bruised face and bleeding arm unconvincingly. "And I didn't even lose a single file!" he added cheerfully.

"What happened?" the Scotsman demanded as he led the younger man towards a metal table, going about to examine the 'scratches' as Tony would have liked to have put it.

"Oh, nothing too horrible. I just fell out of a car." Tony said dismissively and Dr. Mallard paused, turning so he was completely facing the young agent.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked flatly and Tony shrugged, looking around at Ducky's different utensils and examining them closely.

"I fell out of a car." He said so nonchalantly you would think this happened every other day before chuckling "I told everyone that Gibbs threw me out." He laughed to himself "I think Gibbs might have gone up on the fear meter for everyone… They looked absolutely petrified." He beamed and Ducky took a deep breath before slamming his medical kit with much more force than needed onto the table.

"Are you okay Ducky?" Tony asked with concern.

"Anthony… It is not funny that you fell out of a car." He said evenly and Tony looked deeply perplexed at the tone "Would you mind to tell me how it happened?"

"Uh… Well, I needed some files from the backseat so I just undid my seatbelt and went back there when Gibbs was making a sharp turn and it all kind of went downhill from there…Get it downhill? No… Okay…" Tony finished, looking extremely uncomfortable at his new friend's face.

"So you could say it was a combination of your foolishness and Jethro's that landed you here?"

"I would say more of Gibbs' driving than anything else." Tony tried again as one last hope of lightening the mood when he felt a sharp smack at the base of his skull.

"Owww." He complained "When did you get here?" he asked, turning to Gibbs who was glaring at him menacingly.

"A while ago." He answered "Didn't really trust you to go to Ducky, so I came down to double check." Tony looked highly affronted at the implication, but didn't respond to it, instead settling with a withering glare.

"Scary." Gibbs snorted and Tony let his mouth drop, highly offended at the mocking tone and turned his back on his boss, deciding to just ignore the older man altogether.

"Jethro, I must express my complete horror in this situation." Ducky began to lecture and Tony jumped as cold metal touched his arm as Ducky pressed some odd instrument to him. "I mean, falling out of a car? Unacceptable! But more so that the fact he's _joking_ about it! Oh, stop squirming Anthony." He added with a sigh as Tony tried to edge away from him.

"I'm right here you know." He added with a look that wouldn't be out of place on a pouting five year old.

"We've noticed." Gibbs said drily and Tony opened his mouth to respond, only to remember he had decided to ignore his boss, so instead he snapped his features the other way.

"This will need stitches." Ducky muttered, gesturing to his arm and Tony nodded. "And I need you to take off your shirt, just so I can see if there is any bruising there."

"And if I told you there wasn't?"

"…Well, I do not wish to imply I would not _believe _you but-"

"Yeah. I thought so." Tony sighed and slipped his shirt off, not seeming to notice he was getting blood all over it until after it was off. "Whoa. I don't remember buying this in red." He frowned, and then looked down at his arm again. "Dang, this is new too." He scowled and Gibbs shook his head. Of course, he was concerned about the _shirt_.

"Right." Ducky said as reexamined his patient "Just a couple scratches…"

"I told you!" Tony claimed triumphantly.

"I meant on your torso." Ducky cut off admonishingly and the younger agent frowned.

"Oh." He said.

"Yeah. Oh."

The rest of the time down in autopsy remained somewhat silent, aside from Tony swinging his legs and every so often humming some TV show tune, no one made comment until the doors slid back open, revealing a very angry Goth.

"GIBBS!" she yelled and Tony glanced over at her. In truth, he was still a little frightened by the forensic analyst, though he would never admit it.

"Hi Abby." He said and once her green eyes latched onto him, she sprinted over, cooing over him.

"My poor, poor baby!" she cried before turning to Gibbs and smacking him on the shoulder. "You threw him out of a car? How could you throw my puppy out of a car?"

"Your…What? Tony asked, alarmed.

"I didn't throw him out of a car… He fell out." Gibbs explained as the Goth put her hands on her hips, demanding an explanation.

Abby looked to the faces of each three men in the room, her face in a scowl before turning back to Tony.

"You're going to be fine." She told him comfortingly.

"I know I am." He frowned "Did someone tell you I wasn't?"

"Shh…It's okay." She replied putting a finger to his lips and Tony looked at the two men with a questioning glance.

"Just go with it DiNozzo." Gibbs advised.

* * *

***Present Time***

"So…In a sense. Gibbs really did throw Tony out of the car." Tim commented, tapping his fingers to his mouth thoughtfully.

"You know, I never figured out how I was a dog." Tony said, raising his hand as Abby grinned at him and reached over to pet his hair.

"Good boy." She giggled and Tony stuck out her tongue to lick her. "Gross!" she laughed, snapping her hand back. "You know I work with toxins all day right?"

"You just poisoned your dog." Tony told her solemnly and Michelle shook her head at her rather…Odd co-workers.

"So what happened next?" Jimmy asked with his head cocked and Tony waved a hand in the air.

"I know!" he said excitedly and Ziva gave him a look.

"I would hope so, you were there."

"I showed my brilliance then went to bed- kind of- and then the next day I went to FLETC, was amazing, got into my first NCIS fist fight, and ate tacos."

"Spoiler alert." Abby added unnecessarily.

"Tacos sound really good right now…" Jimmy sighed.

"We just ate." Scarlett frowned at him and leaned over to put a hand on his forehead "Are you sick sweetheart? Do you need anything? I could go out and get you something." She said as peered over at him and Tony smirked at the scene.

"Uh… No thank you ma'am, I'm fine."

"I don't believe in that word after knowing him." Scarlett said, gesturing to Tony.

"Hey. Not nice."

"She's got a point though." Alex told him "Hey, who did you get into your first fight with anyways?"

"Hemmings. It was awesome. I totally went ninja on his ass…Well, until Ducky came in. Then it was all over."

"Ducky?" Ziva asked with a cocked head and the doctor in question simply smiled fondly.

"I'm sure all will become clear in time." He said simply and folded his hands leaning back slightly into his chair. "Do you mind if we take a quick break?" he asked them all "I feel the very strong urge for my Grey Earl tea at this moment, and hope you won't object for a few moments of peace for me to make some."

"No way Duckman!" Abby said, suddenly sitting up lightning fast. "Me and Gibbs will just go back to the bullpen to get some more coffee for him." She proclaimed and grabbed a baffled Gibbs' arm, dragging him out towards the door.

"That's odd." Ducky commented "His coffee is still full."

* * *

"Alright, let's hear it." Abby said as she walked next to her favorite silver fox. Gibbs gave her a questioning look, obviously having not the slightest clue what she was talking about. "Come on Gibbs." She prodded "I saw you giving Tony and Alex the evil eye…I may not be a fancy profiler, but I am kind of smart…Or so I've been told."

"Abs." Gibbs sighed and ran a distressed hand over his hair "I wasn't giving anyone the evil eye."

"Uh-huh." Abby said disbelievingly as they got closer the squad room. "I think I know what's going on here." Gibbs sighed and gave her a narrowed look, but Abby didn't at all seem fazed as she walked over and sat in Tony's chair.

"Look Gibbs. It's like this. You and Tony were tight." She said demonstrating with two crossed fingers. "But _then_ you guys had your whole big fight and everything is all confusing with you two. But I know you and Tone want things to be the same as before. Then Alex comes by and you feel replaced." She said simply and Gibbs blinked and stared at her before giving a small laugh.

"No Abby." He said simply and turned to leave when Abby regained his attention clearing her throat.

"And if Tony leaves because he decided Alex is a better mentor than you are?" she prodded gently "A better friend? A better person?"

"Alex is retired. Tony can't exactly go back to work with him." Gibbs said calmly and Abby took a deep breath, a bit miffed that he had missed her point.

"Gibbs you know I love you with all my big heart. You even have more room in there than _Bert_ does which is saying something. All _I _want is everything to be normal. You being our fearless leader, Tony being Tony, Ziva being a ninja, and Timmy being his smart, dorky self." Abby said, bringing out her puppy eyes.

"Abby, things are normal."

"No they're not! Tony is being secretive, Tim is being mean, Ziva is kind of sad all the time, and you're jealous!"

"I'm not _jealous_." Gibbs cut in quickly and Abby gave him a look.

"So you're not upset that Tony told Alex what he's doing with Jenny?" she asked and Gibbs eyes instantly flashed.

"He did _what_?" he choked out, his anger riling up and Abby shook his head.

"He didn't really, but it bothers you that he might have."

"No. It only bothers me because I'm his boss."

"If you say so." Abby sighed, finally relenting to the fact that Gibbs was never going to give in and admit. "You know, if you really don't have a problem with Alex, we should invite him around more often. Tony looks so much better, don't you think?" she asked and Gibbs had to bite his tongue to refrain from commenting to the barb.

He wasn't _jealous_. Gibbs didn't get _jealous_. Jealousy was what petty boyfriends used as a motive for killing when their girlfriends' slept around. Jealousy was what people's children felt when new siblings came along and took away their parents' attention. Gibbs wasn't _jealous_. He was…Well, Gibbs. He was the tough guy marine NCIS agent who did not get jealous. That was just how it worked.

A smaller voice of reason in his head (which oddly sounded like Ducky) argued that he was a human being who was susceptible to all ranges of emotions.

He told the wise voice to shut up.

* * *

Tony really wanted some ice cream.

For no apparent reason other than he just wanted some. Looking around, he decided to check the NCIS break room. There was usually something in there that was either cake or ice cream and he really wouldn't object to either at the moment. Getting up and stretching he looked down at group of chattering people and announced happily he was going to go find himself something sweet to eat.

"I'll come with you." Alex said quickly and whispered to him as they exited the room "Scarlett hasn't let me have anything with sugar in it since I've reached fifty. The woman is crazy. She thinks cake is out to kill us…" Tony laughed, not at all surprised by the revelation as he opened the door and led his friend into one of his favorite NCIS rooms.

It was then that he regretted his decision.

Standing there as he drank some coffee, was Mark Hemmings himself, buffer than ever. Praying that Alex wouldn't find out who he was, Tony opened the fridge, trying to remain calm.

"DiNozzo." Hemmings acknowledged him coolly and Tony gave a weak smile in response, trying to avoid anything that would spark recognition.

"Hey." He replied and plunged his hands into the freezer to find himself a large box of cookie dough ice cream. Perfect!

"Who's this? New agent?" Mark asked, his eyes fluttering to Alex who was looking at him suspiciously.

"Uh, no this is an old friend of mine. Alex meet…A co-worker of mine." Alex smiled and extended his hand as Mark gave Tony a strange look and shook hands.

"Mark Hemmings." He introduced himself and Tony tensed, waiting for the reaction.

"Hemmings?" Alex asked with immediate interest.

"Uh…We got to go." Tony tried, gripping his ice cream in one hand as he tugged on his friend with the other, but Alex didn't budge.

"Yes…" Mark said in answer to Alex's question and Tony waited for the explosion.

Five…Four…Three…Two…One…

"Would you like me to get you some coffee?" Tony felt his jaw drop at the question. Mark seemed surprised too at the open kindness. Tony supposed he figured that any friend of Tony's would instantly hate him… Which was weird because Tony thought that as well…

"Um…Sure." He said and Alex smiled, going off to the coffee machine to fix him a cup. Tony awkwardly stood to the side, watching his carton of ice cream melt sadly. Mark took one look at him and snorted before going back to ignoring him.

It was a strenuous five minutes, but somehow, they survived it as Alex handed the cup to Mark and exited the door, Tony hurrying behind to ask him for an explanation of the unexpected kindness.

"Uh…Wha-?" he started but Alex cut him off by simply handing him a small package of salt.

"You put…Salt in his coffee?"

"And the vinegar that was on the counter…I might have added some avocado that was in the fridge as well." Alex said simply and the two men strained to listen for a moment before hearing a horrified choking noise. "Well…I've done my job." Tony's friend said simply and started working his way back down the autopsy room.

* * *

"Alex is my new hero!" Tony announced as they reentered autopsy. Alex grinned, quickly taking a bow as Abby gave a very pointed look to Gibbs for some reason that the younger NCIS agent couldn't figure out.

"What happened?" Ziva asked and Tony sighed as he sat next to her.

"Well… We may have ran into Mark Hemmings as I got my ice cream." He told them, taking out a spoon and digging in. "Alex offered to make him coffee and ha. Well, let's just say it was an interesting blend."

"I would like to add I'll pay the janitors when he ends up throwing up. I feel bad for making them deal with that…" Alex commented and Tony snorted as he happily ate his cookie dough snack. Ducky frowned, more at Tony's eating habits more than anything before offering Alex a warm smile.

"It is so nice that Anthony is looking up to someone who takes care of him don't you think?" the elderly doctor asked lowly to Gibbs as he threw a quick wink at Abby.

Gibbs didn't look too amused at the comment as his nostrils flared and he opened his mouth to reply before promptly shutting it, remembering all too well the conversation he had just had with Abby. He was most certainly _not_ proving her point.

From the other side of the room, Tim and Ziva were eagerly pleading with Abby to let them security film of Hemmings' reaction to his surprise coffee later.

"Oh… Alright." She relented. Let's face the facts, she wanted to see it as well. Ziva leaned back, her face one of victory as Tim bounced on the edge of his seat. He had been aware that Mark Hemmings was a bully- he had heard it enough from the other agents- but Tim had never realized how _bad_ it was. Especially since Tony was involved. The younger agent scrunched his nose slightly at the thought of _Tony_ being bullied by anyone. The idea seemed almost surreal. Frowning, Tim realized that at the very thought, his hatred for Hemmings may have just doubled.

"Well, thank you all for allowing me my tea." Ducky said, raising his cup. "Would you like to continue?" At the round of nods, Ducky seemed to take a moment to relocate his place back in the story before nodding. "Ah, yes. This is where Tony and Agent Sacks went head for head if I remember correctly."

"Yep." Tony said through a mouthful of ice cream "He doesn't like me very much."

"We are well aware." Jimmy grinned at his friend who flicked a chunk of cookie dough at him. Jimmy went to retaliate, but at the look in Ducky's face, quickly stopped.

"Sorry Dr. Mallard." He apologized with a small smile before giving Tony a glare as he chortled happily with his food.

"As I was saying…" Ducky scowled at the two "It was right after Tony left autopsy…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"DiNutso…What the Hell happened to you?" Fornell asked as Tony walked in, fresh clothes and bandages.

"Gibbs threw me out of the car…I guess I talk too much or something. Anyways-"

"Wait, _what_?" Agent Sacks asked and Tony glared at him.

"Would you like to find out what I found or not?" he snapped at him and the other agent gave a nasty look.

"Come on, like you found anything in those files." Sacks snorted at him and Tony smirked, flipping the first manila folder open and picking up the papers flauntingly.

"Actually, when you aren't too busy being lazy, Agent _Slacks_ then you can find information to do your job." Tony told him and before the SFA could react with any outrage, the NCIS probie continued. "Alright people, here is what I discovered. As usual, our serial killer _has_ been leaving behind patterns, they are just discreet. Look at the bar names. Over and Out? Knock em' Dead? Slit Throat? He's mocking us. The places he picks his victims at always has a name that brings irony to the murder. It also sounds like from the interviews that our psychopath may scout out his victims beforehand… As for the motive, I'm thinking that since all the victims have the same features, the killer is modeling their murders after someone he or she knows…Oh, and I looked at your two suspects and they aren't really looking that solid to me Toby." Tony finished and threw the file back to him.

"We should still look into them." Agent Libson frowned and Tony rolled his eyes.

"And exactly how long have you been doing that? A month or so? Useless. You keep tabs on all your suspects sure, but you can't continually obsess over them when they're other people in the world who could have done it." Tony argued back and Gibbs smiled briefly at his thought process. Viv stood up, taking the plasma remote and clicking a button.

"Well, I have some new suspects if that's what you're looking for. David Hamilton, Larry Jameson, and Carrie Lards. Abby and I went over the forensics test again and she found fibers from a one of a kind sweater… I guess only a few of them have been made with the material since it is so new, and these are the three people who own them that are currently in America."

"Did you run a background check?" Gibbs asked her and Viv shrugged.

"Nothing cross referenced with any of the vics, but I'm still digging." She answered and Tony tilted his head at the TV.

"You know… If we could figure out the next bar he wants to hit at, I could probably go undercover." He commented and Gibbs peered over at him as he flicked on his computer.

"No." he said simply and Tony made a face before trying to argue, only to be cut off by Fornell.

"Agent Gibbs, in case you have forgotten…This is a _joint_ investigation."

"I remember." Gibbs responded with a small smirk "It would be incredibly useful if you and your team actually did something." He added and Fornell narrowed his eyes.

"Sacks." He snapped "I want you to find other connections with the bars. Tell me where he is going to strike next."

"I'll look into the places where the victims were found." Tony volunteered and Gibbs nodded at him as Tony moved towards his computer after sliding across the room in his chair.

"Libson. Get me a psych eval on this killer. Go." Fornell demanded before leaning in closer towards Gibbs "Jethro… Get some duct tape for your newbie." He scowled.

* * *

"This is stupid." Tony snapped as he slammed his car door the next morning and switched his phone to the other ear.

_"Do I sound like I care?_" Gibbs voice sounded from the other end. Tony sighed and rubbed his eyes trying to get the sleep to leave him.

"We have a case! Why do I have to go to FLETC? It is a waste of time that our serial killer could be using to murder someone else."

_"Do you not want to work here DiNozzo? Go to the damn class. Didn't that paper say you could look at your case files there?"_

"Yeah. I guess." Tony grumbled, buckling his seat belt and backing out of his driveway. "Alright, got to go. Good luck with the Febbies." He said and all he heard in response was a click of someone hanging up. "Well then." Tony muttered "That wasn't very nice."

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Horribly long lectures about protocol, government affairs, rankings, and so forth seemed to be twice as long as Tony tried to force himself to pay attention, but the killer was still trying to invade his mind. When his next class began, he wasted no time looking through his files and trying to find any sort of helpful note he could muster.

In the end, it wasn't much. FBI had gotten the basics all laid out, but he needed more. Discreetly moving towards a computer, he tried to log on to look more into their suspects, but unfortunately found that there wasn't enough time.

Which was why when Tony entered the shooting range, he was already in a foul mood.

"Alright everyone, get a gun and _do not_ shoot until I give you the go. We worked on form last time, but now we are more concerned with aim. Try to get it as close the center as you can."

Snorting, Tony loaded his weapon and easily got his bulls eye. This was seriously a waste of time.

"How do you do that?" Taking off his goggles, Tony turned and found a girl cocking her head at him with a somewhat awed look. Glancing down the range, he saw her shot was hopelessly off target. Seeing his gaze, the girl turned a bright red and moved to focus on her own shooting.

"You're too tense." He told her when she lifted the gun and went over to her. She jumped, but then let a small smile tug on her lips as he showed her the correct position. After watching her miss again, he bit his lip and thought.

"Where are you looking at?" he asked her and the girl gave him an incredulous look.

"The target of course." She told him and he pointed a little toward the left.

"Are you left handed?" he asked her and she nodded, looking slightly appalled he knew that bit of information. "You're shot his slightly to the left. Look a little more right to where you are aiming and it won't be as far off." She looked at him doubtfully, but readied her stance again.

"I did it." She said, sounding shocked. "I…I did it!" she cried with more excitement as she looked at her centered shot. "Thank you! Oh, I'm Amy by the way. Amy Hemmings."

"Tony." He smiled at her and then frowned. "Wait…Did you say Hemmings?"

"Yeah." She laughed and pushed a strand of dark hair away from her eyes. "Why? Don't tell me you work at NCIS?"

"Sure do. Is Mark Hemmings your…?"

"Brother? Yeah. You've met him?" Tony laughed and leaned against the counter with a roll of his eyes.

"Met is one way to put it…I don't think he likes me too much." He told her and Amy raised her eyebrows in slight disbelief.

"Mark doesn't like you? He likes everyone!" she told him.

"Well… Not me. I guess it's the charm." He smiled at her, and Amy made a face.

"I don't believe it. What makes you think he doesn't like you?" she demanded and Tony felt himself getting a little more uncomfortable at her fierceness.

"Oh, it's nothing really…I just, well, I get the feeling we're not on the same page entirely." He told her and she narrowed her eyes as if she knew he was lying through his teeth.

"Huh. Well, I'm seeing him later, so I'll have to talk to him about this." She said and Tony looked at her with alarm.

"That _really_ isn't necessary. It promise it is just a small misundersta-"

"DiNozzo! What do you think this is? Social hour? Get back to work!" his instructor called and Tony groaned. These people were going to give him an exploding brain, he swore it.

Moving back towards his own range, Tony picked up his gun and shot another perfect target. Deciding there was nothing better to do, he looked around, trying to find a way to make thing a little more interesting…

Bingo!

* * *

"DiNozzo…" the word was growled out, and Tony tried his best to look somewhat innocent as he saw the chaos around him start to die down.

"Um…Well…" he tried to think of a suitable explanation of exactly _why_ he had decided it would be a good idea to shoot one of the gun barrels in the corner of the range, but couldn't think of one other than. "I was a little bored." Besides, Tony decided, it was bad judgment to keep something explosive like that in a shooting range anyways. Tony had made it so the fire was small enough to do nothing more than cause a little panic for his amusement, but if someone had accidently hit it, the whole place could have blown up. Hell, he was forcing the people of this place to look at a serious safety issue! They should be thanking him! Not…What were they doing?

Tony spied his instructor glaring at him with molted anger before grabbing his phone, and Tony felt his stomach drop slightly. _What_ was he doing?

"Uh, who are you calling?"

They weren't really going to kick him out, were they? Oh dear God…What was he doing!?

"Hello. I would like to speak to Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

…This wasn't good…

Tony felt slightly annoyed that this situation paralleled perfectly with a child whose parents were being called due to their misbehavior. Was this guy calling to get Tony fired? Or to just make sure his boss gave him Hell for his stupidity? Only when his instructor attempted to hand him the phone, did Tony decide he really didn't want to know.

"Uh…I'm good, I really don't need to talk to him right now."

"Kid, take the damn phone." The teacher snapped at him and Tony sighed, grasping the plastic in his hand and warily holding it up to his ear with a dull greeting.

"Let me get this straight. I'm in the middle of a case and you decide it would be a damn good idea to try to blow up FLETC?" Gibbs' voice snapped at him over the phone and Tony began to see the error of his choice of amusement.

"If I had wanted to blow it up… I would have succeeded. I was bored! You could only shoot a freaking piece of paper so many times! It just got the tip of it so it made like, three sparks. It really isn't a big deal." Tony explained, hoping to get the older man on his side. It really shouldn't have been that big of a deal. There was a shot, a few sparks, and it was over…And there was the fact he didn't expect to get caught with so many other guns going off.

He supposed considering he was in a Government Federal Agent training facility, he should have expected them to be somewhat good at figuring out he did it…

"I don't have time for this. Stop acting like a five year old and just finish the damn class." Gibbs yelled and Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes sir." He muttered and heard a scoff on the other end of the line. If Tony hadn't known any better, he would have said it almost sounded amused.

"Don't call me sir." Was the only response before the phone clicked off. Tony shrugged and handed it back to the instructor's waiting hand.

"He said next time I should just finish the job and blow the place up." He told the man and smiled at the look on his face.

* * *

***Present Time***

"Anthony DiNozzo!"

Tony winced and gave a sheepish look at Scarlett as she gave him an outraged look.

"Let's all remember…This happened many years ago…" he started, but quickly cut himself off at the look on his old partner's wife's face.

"What if you had hit a little lower?"

"Then it would have blown up. But I _didn't_. I had the bullet barely skim the top, nothing happened."

"And if someone had accidently pushed into you?" Alex asked quietly and Tony scowled.

"Why do I feel like I'm being ganged up on?" he muttered and Jimmy instantly jumped in to his friend's defense when both Smith's opened their mouths to reply.

"It was stupid of them to put something like that in a training facility to begin with. You have a bunch of people who have never even handled a gun before and you're going to put that within shooting range? It's stupid. Tony was making a point."

"Couldn't he have just _told_ them that though?" Scarlett sighed and Tony gave her a cocked smile, hoping to ease her worry. It worked, of course, and she simply rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair as the others scoffed at the situation and Tony's senselessness.

"That was really good thinking with the Bar names Tony…I didn't catch that…" Tim murmured, thinking back on the case. Tony glanced at him, surprised. He couldn't remember the last time Tim had complimented him, or thought highly of him in any way really. The fact that Ziva nodded in agreement made his shock go up even higher.

"Thanks." He told them, trying not to look too pleased with himself. Under normal circumstances, he might have made a joke about it, but decided not to now. He and his partners hadn't been Seeing Eye to eye for a long time, and he would really like it if they started getting along together again. He missed the light teasing instead of the attacks. Maybe after this story was all said and done, they would be able to get back to that.

"Guys, after this could we stop again? This girl is in a need for a Caff-Pow." Abby yawned and everyone smiled at her before reassuring her that after this part of the story was done, she could indeed get her drink.

"Well then… Let's see….Yes, I remember now. So after FLETC training, Anthony didn't go back home. He went straight to the office and got to work, staying for a grand number of hours until it was late enough that Jethro had intervene. At the time our young Agent wasn't really that old at all, and as much as he proclaimed he knew much about law enforcement, wasn't quite ready for all the hardships that came with being an NCIS federal agent…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

Tony looked exhausted. He was pouring over a file, half asleep with coffee literally almost falling out of his hand. Gibbs walked over, reaching over and plucking it from his hand and finishing it for him.

"Hey. Not nice." Tony yawned as he looked longingly at the cup again before glaring witheringly at the file. Gibbs snorted and grabbed the file from his agent, tossing it at Vivian instead who caught it with practice eased.

"Go home DiNozzo. You're too green for an all-nighter." The reaction was instant. Tony immediately went into denial, objecting that he _could_ do it, vehemently arguing anything that stated otherwise. After his third argument, Gibbs heard it.

He looked up at his agent, who didn't seemed to have noticed, still talking as Viv looked up and stared for a few moments before she busted out laughing.

"What?" Tony asked, sounding confused and Gibbs tried to hide his smirk and Viv continued to laugh.

"Oh my God…" she gasped and Tony's face became even more sulky as he tried to figure out what was so funny. Gibbs finally decided to clue him in.

"You always sound like that when you're tired DiNozzo?" he asked and realization seemed to dawn on him.

"Really?" he scowled "_That's_ what's funny?"

Gibbs shrugged, trying not to grin at his agent's newly found New York accent. He supposed it shouldn't really be all _that_ surprising, considering he was from Long Island… It wasn't strong by any means either, but it was enough to make it noticeable.

"I do not get how this is funny." Tony said, slowly, obviously focusing on his words. "Lots of people talk like this. Robert De Niro sound like this."

"It isn't _bad._" Viv conceded "It just…Isn't expected from you."

"Bet it came in handy when you went undercover with the mafia." Gibbs couldn't help but adding and Tony scowled again, this time with a roll of his eyes.

"Whatever." He grouched and went back to his work. Gibbs rolled his eyes, did he really think he would get distracted that easily?

"Pretty sure I told you to scram." Groaning with annoyance, Tony let his head fall back towards the ceiling and Gibbs could have sworn that a sixteen year old kid was in that chair.

"Fine." Tony conceded and threw his bag over his shoulder. Gibbs watched for a moment before grabbing the pack, pulling out the files hidden inside, and tossing the now empty bag back at him.

"Come back when you can keep your eyes open."

The younger man opened his mouth, looking like he was about to argue before shutting his quickly, obviously wising up a bit before resigning to the fact he was going to have to be a human being and go to sleep.

Stalking out of the room, Tony felt his body began to sag now that he was out of Viv and Gibbs' line of sight. He was exhausted and at the moment could only think about a hot steaming shower on his skin. He was so entranced, he didn't even notice the figure coming towards him until he was pushed into the wall harshly.

"You think this is funny DiNozzo?" a voice snarled into his ear and Tony could have groaned if he wasn't so tired.

Hemmings. What a_ huge_ surprise. Looking up, he could see the other man's face was bright red with anger as he brought his fist back and slammed into Tony's face, snapping his head back. Acting on first impulse, Tony pushed his arm away, kicking him hard in the knee before having enough room to deliver his own punch, effectively making a snapping noise as Hemming's nose broke.

"You little _bitch_." He growled as blood splattered him and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Let's be real here. I'm clearly a guy, which makes me a bastard. Get your curses straight pal." Tony taunted before dodging another punch. "What did I do to you anyways?" he grouched and Hemmings narrowed his eyes before gripping Tony's arm and slamming him back against the wall again, using his bigger weight to push up against him.

"You think it's okay to talk to _my_ sister? I don't think so kid." He growled and Tony resisted the urge to yell out as he felt Mark's hand move closer to his throat. God damnit he couldn't breathe!

Swallowing hard, he opened his mouth to speak, but struggled. This guy outweighed Tony by a lot and with all of his pressing him to the wall, he couldn't hope to move, let alone breathe.

"I've had enough of you. Your three days are up. Now I'm going to let you go and you're going to scram. Are we-" _THWACK!_

All of a sudden there was nothing on Tony any longer, leaving him gasping against the wall as Hemmings apparently fell back, looking around confused. Oh, God. Please, please, please, please don't let Gibbs be there…

He wasn't…It was…Ducky?

The elderly doctor was standing there, with a stethoscope in his hand, glaring fiercely at Mark who was on the floor, looking dazed as he rubbed his head.

"The _nerve_." He growled and swung the stethoscope again, hitting Mark sharply, causing him to yelp and jump back.

"Dr. Mallard! I…I was just…"

"If you had _any _sort of decency you would resign now. However, seeing as you more than likely do not, I must insist that you leave or else I will inform Agent Gibbs of this matter…Out!" he snapped and Mark blinked before stumbling out of the door.

"Jeez, Ducky thanks-" _THWACK!_ "OW!" Tony yelped as the stethoscope his the side of his arm. "What was that for!?"

"Agent DiNozzo, a man does not simply decide to attack unless he you two have argued previously before this night. Why did you not inform anyone of this?"

"Ducky, it isn't a big-" he started but saw the stethoscope rise again and quickly held up his hands. "I'm very sorry and it won't happen again." He added quickly and Ducky nodded in agreement.

"See to it that it does not Anthony. I assume you will be telling Jethro?"

"What? Oh, Ducky, no… It really isn't something that matters all that much. Gibbs doesn't have to know…" Tony objected firmly and the elderly doctor rose an eyebrow.

"I see. Well, I will not inform him, but if he asks about that mark on your face I would suggest you tell the truth. Jethro does not take too kindly to being lied to." Ducky informed him coolly and Tony nodded, not really in the mood to argue at the moment. Besides, he figured Gibbs wouldn't ask too many questions anyways.

"Good night Ducky."

"To you as well my dear boy."

* * *

The first thing Gibbs had noticed when his agent walked into the bullpen, was that he must have gotten some good rest because he was literally bouncing with energy…The second thing he noticed was that he was walking backwards.

Giving the younger man an incredulous look, he watched as Tony waved cheerily and very carefully continued walking back and managing to maneuver himself into his chair. Gibbs thought about asking why, but figured it was useless anyhow. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know.

Turning back to his papers, he didn't think about his agent's strange behavior again, focusing in on the case. He still needed to update Fornell and vice versa.

_"Did you hear about last night?"_

_"….Yeah, it was supposed to have…."_

_"….he couldn't have gotten…."_

_"…DiNozzo looks pretty bad, wonder how Hemmings is."_

At the last sentence whispered behind him, Gibbs glanced over the bullpen wall and stared at the agents huddled together as they gossiped. Quickly, his eyes zeroed in on DiNozzo, who, he now realized, hadn't shown the other side of his face at all.

"DiNozzo!"

"Yeah Boss?"

"Get over here." Tony suddenly looked torn, which basically confirmed all of Gibbs suspicions. Watching as the other man struggled to get to the other side of the room while adeptly showing only one side of his body, Gibbs resisted the urge to grind his teeth.

"Gibbs?" Tony asked as he finally made his way over, Gibbs didn't wait for any longer. He grabbed Tony's arm and pushed his back slightly so that the blackened side of his face was able to be viewed.

"Something I should know?" he asked quietly and the younger man froze, looking like a little kid with his hand in the cookie jar. A second later his face was completely blank before being replaced with a bright smile.

"_Should_ is such a general term Gibbs. Maybe-"

"Who?"

"What makes you think that-"

"Answer." Gibbs demanded and Tony looked as though he would so much rather be anywhere else in the world.

"Come on Gibbs." He whispered as others started looking around when they heard the anger in Gibbs voice. "Just let it go for right now." Gibbs, still trying to make his point, dug into his drawer where a pile of pink slips were waiting a slammed them onto the desk threateningly where Tony could clearly see them before he paled.

"Does it really matter who?" he asked desperately and Gibbs popped open his pen to start filling out the form when Tony finally broke.

"Hemmings! It was Hemmings, Jesus Gibbs." Tony scowled and Gibbs pushed the slip aside and moved to his phone, only to have Tony's hand shoot out to stop him. "You're not seriously going to call someone about this are you?" he asked with slight panic and Gibbs dug the heel of his palms into his eyes before looking up tiredly at the other man.

"Tony, if you want to not tell anyone about someone beating up on you _outside_ of this agency. Fine. But here you're my responsibility, which mean when this prick decides to throw a punch, I'm going to take care of it." Gibbs told Tony with such exasperation that Tony almost frowned. Did he really having such a tiring effect on people? Pushing the question aside, he reexamined the statement before feeling a hint of emotion grapple at him.

"I'm _not_ anyone's responsibility." He ground out and he silently congratulated himself at the almost surprised look on his newest mentor's face. Gibbs studied him for a moment, before turning to reach for the phone again, only to have his agent's voice cut him off.

"Look, I don't know how much you know about being the new guy in a work place, but I kind of got the whole system down pat. I know I'm supposed to report to you or whatever if someone is messing with me, but trust me when I say it'll only make it worse. Can you just ignore the whole thing and let me deal with it?" Tony asked seriously, his eyes not once break contacting as he attempted to stare down his boss. Gibbs turned to the phone in his hand before sighing and putting it down before holding his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. But this have better get resolved quickly." He told him before looking over and seeing Mark Hemmings himself watching them from the edge of the bullpen. His face consisted of similar bruises to Tony's, though they were a bit darker and Mark's nose was clearly broken. Gibbs considered him for a moment as he walked away.

"Hey DiNozzo?"

"Yeah?"

"Good job."

* * *

***Present Time***

"Bastard." Ziva commented with a scowl as she listened to Ducky. "Why does he still work here? Why did you _let_ him still work here? He should be fired!" Ziva added vehemently to her boss, who in turn shrugged.

"DiNozzo took care of it." Was his only response.

"That is not to say it didn't get worse before it got better." Ducky frowned and Abby nodded in agreement, her eyes darkening as she looked over at Tony.

"He went too far." She told McGee quietly who was shooting her a questioning look and Tim looked alarmed.

"You mean he didn't go too far when he put the cigarettes and articles about Tony's mom in his desk?" he asked and Abby shrugged.

"Tony's a tough nut. He doesn't ever really crack…Though when he does, I got to say it is pretty scary." She said, remembering only a few days ago when Tony had shattered glass all over the autopsy floor and stormed out of the room, thinking Gibbs had betrayed him when his sister was brought up.

Tony seemed to have noticed her mind wandering because he gave her a warm smile to reassure her. Abby gave a half-hearted one in return feeling her almost forgotten hatred of Mark Hemmings returning with a passion.

"Could we take a break?" she yawned, "It's getting kind of late." She added, looking at the clock on the wall and everyone turned to it, seeming surprised at how quickly the time had gone.

"We'll start back up tomorrow if we don't have a case right?" Tim asked, and Gibbs gave his nod of assent. At that signal, everyone sprung up, Ducky moving to pack up autopsy with Palmer, Lee hurrying off with one last glance at Jimmy, and Abby moving to find her spare Caff-Pow.

Tony turned to Scarlett and Alex, who were gathering their things to all head back to his house when a soft knock interrupted everyone's thoughts.

"Director." Alex greeted when they all saw Jenny standing in the doorway. The redhead had been somewhat MIA during this time, and Tony was almost surprised to see her.

"Hello Mr. Smith." Jenny greeted warmly before turning her gaze to Tony. "Agent DiNozzo, do you think I can have a moment with you in my office please?" she asked and Tony hesitated briefly before nodding.

"Here." He said handing his keys to Scarlett "I'll just catch a cab, you guys take my car…Please don't scratch her by the way…The loss of my Camaro has been hard enough." He added jokingly and the two elderly couple rolled their eyes affectionately before heading off with polite good-byes to Gibbs.

Tony looked over at his Boss before following Jenny, meeting his eyes momentarily before trying to think of something to say.

"Night Boss." He came up lamely, offering what he hoped to be a reassuring smile. He hadn't failed to notice his mentor's somewhat off behavior and was instantly worried by it. The last time Gibbs had acted 'off' was when he had gotten blown up, and look where that had led them. The thing about Gibbs though, was that Tony had absolutely no idea how to help him.

"Goodnight Tony." He answered, and the other agent almost blinked with surprised at the name. Now a days it was almost always DiNozzo…

Not that he minded.

* * *

"So, what have you been up to now?" Tony asked as he sat in the director's chair with an attempt to look imposing.

"What makes you think I've been up to anything?" came the quick response as Jenny gave him a firm look and smiled when her agent scrambled out from behind the desk.

"Just testing it out." He joked and Jenny grinned.

"After my job?"

"Me? Never!" he laughed and wandered around the office aimlessly. He couldn't help but notice how familiar he was with it now that he and Jenny were friends.

"I just wanted some updates on our operation." Jenny told him before pausing.

"All is good. Don't have much else to report…I thought I usually came to you every other week about that." Tony frowned and threw a questioning glance at his boss…Well, his _other_ boss.

"You do, but I have something else for you right now." Jenny told him gently. It had been awhile since his last little 'mission' for Jenny. She had laid off when he told her about his and Gibbs tedious relationship and for that he was immensely grateful.

Which was why when she asked, he nodded, ready to repay the favor without even blinking at a second thought.

"La Grenioulle?" he asked and Jenny leaned forward on her desk slightly as she looked him in the eye.

"Here's what we're going to do…"

* * *

**So, here I am! Ik, I've been MIA for like, ever, but at least I came out with a long chapter? Guys, I'm seriously sorry. It has been over a month, and there is really no excuse for leaving you guys this long. While I HAVE been really busy, I can't believe how neglectful I've been in terms of writing. For those of you are following my other story, know I'm working hard to get that out either today or tomorrow as well (: I hope everyone forgives me!**

**Anyways, please review…**

**P.S.**

**One thing before I leave you guys again… So I was brave and watched Berlin and Revenge. But…I need some advice about the last two episodes. I haven't been able to watch them, and I've heard they were terrible. I was just curious about what you guys thought. I can't really say yet since I haven't seen it, but it was said to be just plain awful. Should I be concerned? *Sigh* Oh well. Berlin and Revenge were pretty good at least. That ass Bodner (however you spell his name) is dead at least. Ziva totally just went all BA which was pretty awesome! Wouldn't have minded a little more Tony (Ha, obviously), but hey. We can't have everything I guess. **

**That's really it now! Thanks for reading!**

**-Kensi**


	8. Chapter 8

~Chapter 8~

***Present Time***

"GIBBS!" The word rang across the room and three heads snapped up from the MCRT bullpen. Abby had flown off of the elevator, right past Ziva and Tim, only to launch herself onto Gibbs, her green eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Where's Tony?" she asked, and Tim and Ziva quickly went back to their work, afraid of what their boss' reaction might be.

Tony had not been seen by a single soul all morning. His cell was off, car stashed away at home, no note, no way to communicate, just vanished into thin air.

And it was driving Gibbs completely mad.

It wasn't too much of a mystery to have guessed what happened. Jenny had come down earlier, and when her attention was drawn to her agent's absence, she simply nodded and told them not to worry. The words basically just ticked the ex-marine off more to the point where if Tony were to walk through the door at that moment, there was a good chance he would be getting tied up.

"Gibbs?" Abby quickly began to sense her bad judgment in asking the question, it was clear that Gibbs was _not_ in the mood to talk about their SFA…At all, when Alex and Scarlett entered the floor with the sharp ding of the elevator.

"How did you get in here?" Gibbs asked with slight annoyance and Scarlett held out her temporary visitor pass that bore Jenny's signature on it as a response.

"Where's Tony?" she asked "He didn't come home last night- is he here?" After four negative shakes of the head, the old couple exchanged worried glances before turning back to the group of NCIS agents.

"Well, where could he have gone?" Alex demanded, his voice sounding accusing as he eyes Gibbs warily. Before an argument could break out, the director appeared again, walking down the steps with dignity as she attempted to calm the brewing argument down with soothing words the stop anyone from exploding.

"Mr. Smith, I have Tony running an….Errand for me. He'll be back within a couple days." She told him and Gibbs felt the fire that had begun to burn inside of him flare up.

That _one sentence_ was more information than Gibbs had ever received about his agent's whereabouts. What gave this guy the right to know? How could Jenny have told what, to her, was a complete stranger more information than her old partner!? Taking a slowly measured breath, Gibbs waited for the anger to pass before speaking again.

"A couple days?" he recited "I'm going to be an agent down…For _about_ a couple days?" Ziva and Tim both exchanged wary looks at the temper building up as Abby let her lip pucker out.

"As far as I'm aware, you're fully capable. You and Agent DiNozzo worked with just the two of you for a year or so, correct?"

Not wanting to argue with her, Gibbs simply ignored the statement, silently plotting on how he could locate his agent's whereabouts. He didn't like not knowing where Tony was. He couldn't have the man's six if he didn't know, and by the looks of it, no one else was out there covering his tail. Jenny was sitting in front of him, with that _damn_ annoying smile on her face.

"Who is he supposed to contact if things go wrong?" he asked her, feeling if he had a name- just one- he would be able to relax a little.

"Agent Gibbs…Please drop the matter."

Good God, she couldn't even give him that could she?

Opening his mouth so Gibbs could tell the director _exactly_ what he thought of this entire situation, he almost didn't notice Palmer and Ducky gliding out of the elevator as the conversation got more heated. Only when Palmer spoke up, did anyone really pay them any mind.

"Does this mean we're going to stop with the story until Tony gets back?" he asked, and everyone's eyes fell to him, causing the assistant ME to blush and turn away.

"Tony already knows what happens." Ziva grouched "We should not have to wait for him."

"Yeah, maybe we should keep going." Tim added, his eyes beginning to narrow in on his boss. Personally, Tim thought it would be a good idea to keep Gibbs distracted with something other than their missing partner. And if a case wasn't coming up, then this was probably the next best thing they could do.

"Cool!" Abby piped in, already following Tim's train of thoughts. She wasted no time getting to work, pushing Ziva and Tim's chairs to the middle, she hurriedly ran around the office, stealing chairs from absent agents' desks until everyone had somewhere to sit in the bullpen. Noticing that she, herself was missing a seat, she instead walked over and dumped herself on McGee's lap, waiting with a look of innocence at Ducky instead of at Tim, who looked shell shocked.

"Abby, what are you-"

"Quiet Timmy! Duckman is trying to talk."

Ducky, who had been patiently watching the flurry of reactions in the room, from Scarlett and Alex's hesitant confirmation to Jenny's approval to Jethro's huffiness smiled and looked over at everyone's faces.

"Well…I suppose it would be alright if we continued." He shrugged nonchalantly and let his mind rewind back to the day he was supposed to have been thinking of. Long forgotten images danced into his mind of Tony and Jethro arguing along with a quick hospital visit. "I believe…This is where Anthony started to trust Jethro a bit more…"

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

"Pull them up again." Tony demanded and Vivian sighed as she clicked another button on the computer and put her head on her desk out of frustration

"Tony…No matter how many ways you look at it, it _isn't_ going to change!" she cried in frustration and Tony turned to glare at her before twirling back towards the screen.

"There's got to be _something_ here." He growled and Viv glowered.

"Listen to me! He probably just dumped the bodies off to a convenient place. There isn't a pattern."

"There is though Viv! If he killed the guy here…Then why is the body on the other side of town? It doesn't make sense. There are plenty of other good dumping spots, why _that_ particular place? And for victim number two, it is way out of the way too. There's a reason. I know there is. Here, read me the names of the places again." He added, throwing himself into his chair as he stared at the TV, trying to decipher the mystery behind why the killer had put the bodies where he or she had. Vivian pinched the bridge of her nose, deciding it was pointless to try to reason with the probie.

"Jordan Park, Owner's Mansion, Sears, Honda over by Richmond, Lowes, Outback, and Walmart."

"I still can't believe they put a body at Outback…You see what I mean don't you? Most people put bodies away from places- Not in the public view. Jordan Park? Okay, I'll buy that. But Owner's Mansion is someone's _home_, and Sears? Why would you put a corpse in front of a store? Or at a car dealership? It doesn't make sense!" Tony hissed and tried to get logic on his side again. There was nothing that connected the places, nothing that made it seem as if they were at all related, and nothing that held any shred of useful information.

"Maybe the guy is just stupid." Viv grumbled through her hands and Tony looked at her skeptically.

"Then how come we haven't caught them yet?" he asked. The agent had already decided that this killer was some sort of genius, and Viv's sharply contrasting conclusion bothered him slightly.

"Tony, Gibbs is going to want something when he gets in here and you're not going to have anything. Maybe you should work on something else."

"No! I _have_ this. I just need…Ten more minutes to figure it out."

"You said that an hour ago!"

"Well guess what? I lied. Now let me think." Tony said, tapping his lip. His mind was racing a million miles an hour, trying to come up with some way to think of something- _anything_ really. There had to be something! Jordan…Owner… Sears…Honda… Lowes…Outback…Walmart…

J…O…S…H…L…O…W… Joshlow? No…Josh…Low? Huh. Josh Low.

"It's a name." Tony said slowly and Vivian looked at him as if he had just spoken a foreign language. "Vivian! I got it!" he cried out, throwing his hands in the air as if he were a blind man who just regained his sight.

"Well good DiNozzo. Plan on sharing?" Gibbs asked as he roamed into the bullpen, coffee cup in hand. Tony beamed as he pointed out the first letter of each of the places where the bodies were found.

"It's beginning to spell a name." he explained "Josh something. Lowen? Lowe? Lowry? Something like that." Tony frowned and Vivian clucked impatiently.

"That's pretty far out there Tony." She told him skeptically.

"It can't just be a coincidence." He argued back and Gibbs gave them both a sharp look.

"DiNozzo, I want you to find any person in the country with any kind of match to that name. Viv your turn, go." He said and Vivian turned to the screen.

"The fibers Abby analyzed were from those rare jackets I was telling you about- only they aren't new. The material it is made out of is from a Quagga."

"I'm sorry, but a _what_?" Tony asked incredulously as the strange name.

"A Quagga. It is an animal that became extinct in 1883. Kind of like a zebra subspecies sort of thing. There are only ten of these jackets left in the world, and like I said only three in the U.S."

"For an extinct animal, those things must be really expensive."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean whoever owns one did it. It could have been a gift or stolen." Tony argued and Viv shook her head.

"Someone with that much cash would report it if someone stole it from them, not to mention I doubt they would want to give something like that away. I got the names here. Rachel Donnigan, Peter Brown, and Sarah Pascal. So far no criminal record has shown for any of them, and but the background check is still processing."

"You told me that last time." Gibbs added, his voice growing more annoyed. "I want answers." Viv pursed her lips, but nodded as Gibbs turned to his other agent.

"You. Get me a lead. Now." he instructed and Tony nodded, ready to dive in his work. He would stay here until the apocalypse came... He was not letting the son of a bitch walk away. He would find this guy even if it killed him.

He swore it.

* * *

"DiNozzo, come on." Gibbs called as he grabbed his coat to walk out of the bullpen. Tony jumped up from his desk, having been in the process of trying to find something for the case and followed his boss eagerly out of the squad room.

"Where are we going?" he asked, hopping up and down on his toes. "Did you find a lead?" There was no answer though, as Gibbs led him out of the room, ignoring Viv's venomous look at the two of them for being left behind.

"So…Quick question. Could I drive?" Tony asked hopefully when he saw the Sudan's appearance. He was hoping to live for a few more years, and not be killed in a car accident. Unfortunately, if Gibbs' face was anything to go by…The answer was no.

"Get in the car." He snapped and Tony let his lower lip stick out before collapsing into the passenger's seat, still waiting for his Boss to tell him where they were going as well as why. Only after Gibbs had started up the car, did he find the courage to ask once more.

"Gibbs…Where are we going?" he asked with a little more 'tell-me-now' in his voice. The older man looked over, considering him for a moment, before shrugging and turning back to the road. Tony was just about to scream in frustration when his partner _finally_ spoke up.

"Victim number eight was found." He saw quietly and Tony froze, his eyes drifting back to Gibbs with nothing short of horror.

"What? When!? Why did we leave Vivian behind?" he demanded and the car swerved around a lamp post as Gibbs almost hit a grand total of three different objects before answering.

"Ducky will meet us there along with Fornell. We don't need Viv to sketch the scene. I _do_ however, need to get you some more experience." Tony debated arguing that he had more than enough experience, but figured that it wouldn't matter to Gibbs. He apparently had to _show_ the older man that he was a capable agent. Something that could be rather hard if Gibbs was really as thick headed as he acted at times.

The rest of the car ride was in silence, Tony wasn't about to push for more information when Gibbs was obviously in no mood to answer. Besides, he would see it all for himself soon enough.

As Gibbs swerved non too gracefully towards Ronald's Street, almost hitting Fornell, who flicked him off in response. Still in silent mode, the two men quickly hopped out of the car and ducked under the tape, which was surrounding an area of thick vegetation, the grass making it almost impossible to see the body of the man sprawled out.

Tony's gut clenched.

It was strange, to see someone who looked so extraordinarily like you to be laying, very much dead on the ground. He felt something like a ghost who had just left its body and was watching the world around it before going up to heaven. Snapping on his gloves, he knelt down closer, just barely brushing some of the grass aside to get a closer look at his face.

Well… He was a good looking man, Tony thought in hopes to humor himself.

It didn't work.

"DiNozzo, sketch and shoot." Gibbs called out just as Fornell had ordered Slacks to bag and tag the evidence. "I'll stay." Tony head Gibbs mutter to Fornell, who went to go talk to witnesses. Tony tried to brush off the slight annoyance he felt that his boss didn't trust him with the scene, but decided not to worry about it all this much.

"Hey! No, no, no. Drop that you dimwit!" Tony snapped when Sacks went forwards into the crime scene.

"He _told_ me to bag and tag." The other agent responded with annoyance and Tony let out an irritated breath.

"Could you maybe do that_ after_ I finish the photos?" he growled, "Or better yet. Wait until the ME checks it out? What if there is some chemical on the body? I don't know about you, but I would rather _not_ be exposed to some freaky superman radioactive crap, thanks." Tony scowled at him and Sacks held out his hands in a surrendering position.

"Fine then. I'll just sit here doing nothing." He snarled and Tony threw him a sweet smile.

"Something I'm sure you are very capable of after all your practice." He added and watched with a mixture of satisfaction as the other agent gave him a loathing look. Snapping another picture, Tony looked at the man once more, trying to memorize every feature and scratch.

Tony wondered vaguely who this guy was. He would find out soon enough of course, it was part of his job to get involved in the man's private life. However, knowing a person through files of paperwork and knowing someone from actually _knowing_ them was two different things. Tony was sure if he died, no one would actually have any idea who he was. Sure there would be the paper work, saying his full name, birth, work history or what not. Then the hundreds of people who would tell the police how funny he was, or fun to be around, and so on and so forth. One or two of his old partners would say how smart or capable…But after that? The real part of him would be very much dead and forgotten.

He really hoped it wouldn't be the same for this guy.

Shaking off the foreboding thoughts, he almost jumped when Ducky pushed past him and clucked under his breath with disapproval.

"Poor boy." He said quietly as he knelt down to look closer and as if by magic, Gibbs appeared, his eyes watching the agents carefully.

"What you got Duck?" he asked and the elderly man threw up a glare.

"It has been three seconds since I've arrived Jethro." He said flatly and after a long pause looked back up. "Well…Perhaps I _have_ found something." He said with slight displeasure that Gibbs appeared to have been right in bugging him. "Like the rest of our previous victims, his wrists are cut."

"Feminine way of killing." Tony cut in, his mind already going through women suspects.

"Don't interrupt Ducky." Gibbs chided, but the doctor on the other hand, threw him a small smile.

"Lucky for us, it appears our killer may have gotten sloppy. The knife wound isn't clean cut this time." He explained and pulled out his liver probe as Tony frowned. Gibbs noticed and gave him a look that clearly told him to hurry up and talk.

"Serial killers are usually meticulously consistent." He frowned.

"Well, if he messed up it's not like he could just recut the wrists." Sacks butted in and Tony gave him a cold look of dislike.

"Exactly. So, our killer would be extra careful to get it right the first time. So either this is a copycat or…"

"Or he was close to being caught." Gibbs nodded in understanding. "Look at that DiNozzo. You may not be a lost cause after all." He proclaimed as he walked away, ordering Sacks to get his ass moving.

"Thanks." Tony frowned "I think."

* * *

"Come on. We're canvasing the neighborhood." Gibbs said as Tony glanced up. They had been finishing the minor details of the crime scene. Grabbing the evidence and looking for any other clues they could find. Tony had _finally_ finished, when Gibbs strolled by making his announcement. Looking around, it didn't seem all that bad of a deal. The said neighborhood was small, only a few buildings and houses, with one large warehouse shoved to the side awkwardly.

"You got it." Tony smirked as he jumped up, ready for action.

As it turned out… There was no action. Canvasing was a complete headache and excruciatingly long process for being such a secluded area. The neighborhood was boring, with virtually no information. The buildings? Useless. And the houses that were sprinkled in the mix just added unneeded stress to the situation. Tony prayed as Gibbs jerked the car in the direction of the warehouse that there would be something- _anything_ useful to help them.

"You know, I had some friends in school that used to live in a warehouse." He commented as they made their way up. Gibbs shot him a look that clearly stated that he didn't care, but Tony didn't seem to take it to heart as he kept talking. "I think they were there for about…Three years? They told me that no one ever went in there so they didn't have to pay rent or anything, and they threw the most _awesome_ parties… Made my dorm room look sad." He finished as the door flung open.

Inside, there were the normal shelves on things you would find in warehouses. Wood, tools, mainly construction stuff. Tony frowned, trying to remember if there had been any other warehouses near the dumping sights.

"Do you know if our killer is using the same weapon every time?" he asked and Gibbs spared him a glance.

"Abby is looking into it." He answered and Tony looked suspiciously at the tools on one of the shelves, snapping on some gloves to pick them up and take a closer look. None of them had blood on them, but…

"Gibbs." He called and like some sort of freaky vampire, the man appeared over his shoulder. "That's creepy." He informed him seriously before showing him a saw. He rubbed his finger against the metal to show the wetness. "Someone just cleaned this recently." He told him and Gibbs looked at it intensely. Something like a saw seemed too big to be cutting open victim's wrists.

"Anything else been cleaned?" he asked and Tony shook his head and he examined the assortment of screwdrivers and hammers. "Bag all of them." He instructed and the younger man took out the evidence bag and sharpie before getting to work. He was about halfway through it when he heard a soft click. Dropping the tools, Tony went for his gun, his eyes looking around.

Someone had just loaded a gun.

"Gibbs?" he called quietly, his weapon drawn and ready to go. When his boss didn't respond, he got in closer to the shelves, peering for any sign of the older man. A soft movement front somewhere toward the back, had him move quickly behind a pile of wood, his gun pointing towards the area of concern.

"Gibbs!" he called a bit louder and cringed at giving away his position. Damn it, where was he? Suddenly, another movement came and before he could respond he felt something crash into him just as a loud bang went off.

Tumbling towards the ground, there was a sudden yell and cries of 'FBI' sounded in the distance before Tony caught himself on the floor, the pressure of whatever was against him still on his back, twisting he turned to see Gibbs on the ground next to him.

"Hey, what-" he started, his mind still trying to figure out what just happened when he stopped cold. There was blood. _Gibbs'_ blood on the floor, spilling out of a hole on the very side of his arm. Tony felt his stomach clench as he quickly jerked forward, pushing Gibbs on his back so he could put pressure on the wound.

"What just happened?" he asked fiercely as he Gibbs shoved him off, grabbing a towel that conveniently laid a few feet away and pressing it against the wound.

"Someone was in here." He stated blandly "And decided you would make good target practice."

"So you decided to get in the way?" Tony almost yelled back, swallowing hard. What an _idiot_! "Why would you-? Do you have a death wish?!" he demanded, his voice getting more and more upset as he looked around at the flurry of agents that had appeared within seconds of the gunshot.

"It was either you or me." Gibbs shrugged nonchalantly and before Tony even had a second to respond to that, Fornell jogged up to them.

"So…I take it you found something." He said and Tony threw him a filthy look. "What?" he asked and Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Did you get him?" he asked and Fornell made a face.

"No. We had just finished with the scene and I had sent Sacks to help you finish with the canvasing. He was right outside when the shot went off and called for backup before going in. We saw a glimpse of someone as we ran in, but they were gone like that." He said, demonstrating with a snap of his fingers "We have the whole place blocked off though, and we're looking to see if there are any tapes around here." He finished and took in Gibbs on the ground. "Damn. I lost my bet with Pachi. I told him for sure it would DiNutso who would be in the hospital before you." He commented and Tony swallowed again, unsure of how to respond to any of this.

Gibbs had just taken a bullet for him.

A _bullet_…For _him_. It didn't quite make sense. Tony knew that he was Gibbs' responsibility, he knew that it was his job to make sure the younger man didn't get killed but… He just… He just took a bullet for him.

On many occasions Tony had stepped in the line of fire to protect people, but he had never been the one who was…Well, protected before. The younger agent had never met anyone who was willing to die for him… There had been times where he thought Alex might have, but it was never put to the test- thank God.

Yet, he had known this man for only a couple weeks and he just decided to risk his life for him? Maybe Gibbs was just crazy… Tony had been called reckless, maybe Gibbs was the same way or…Something.

"DiNozzo!" Tony blinked, drawn out of his daze to look at the man in question, who was giving him a look that clearly stated to get his head out of his ass. For someone who had just been shot, the man was incredibly calm, simply applying pressure to his arm with the towel and waiting calmly for the paramedics to arrive. "Go back to base and give those tools to Abby. Get Viv and find me a lead before I get back."

"When do you think you'll be back?" Tony asked incredulously "You were just _shot_." He added heatedly. There had been a sudden burst of anger towards the man. Who the Hell did he think he was? Jumping in front of guns to save him… The frustration made him clench his jaw tighter, an action Gibbs didn't fail to miss.

"Hopefully a couple hours."

"_What_? Are you crazy?" Tony demanded, his voice going up an octave. "A piece of metal just went through your body and-"

"I'm aware of what just happened, DiNozzo." Gibbs snapped warningly at him "I think I can handle it from here." He added, getting up slowly when he saw the ambulance pull up. He looked distastefully at the vehicle and then dejectedly at his arm. Tony got the feeling that if his arm had still been in good enough condition for use, the older man would have already left.

"Gibbs-"

"You keep Abby and Ducky focused on their work and away from me until they're done. Understand?" he cut him off and another flare of anger whisked through him as he watched Gibbs calmly get into the ambulance, bluntly ignoring the EMTs attempts to help.

"Like hell I am." Tony muttered tightly under his breath and Fornell cast him an amused look.

"This should be fun." He smiled, watching as the probie slammed the door to the car and drove away with their evidence. Did Gibbs really think it would be that easy? Fornell shook his head. The kid and his friend were an interesting match, it would interesting to see whose fire would burn brighter.

* * *

***Present Time***

"Why is Tony so upset?" Tim asked with a frown as he leaned forward in his seat. He had been listening attentively for the last couple minutes and couldn't fathom why his partner was reacting in such a way to someone saving his life. Ducky gave him a sad smile.

"As I'm sure you've noticed over the years Timothy, Anthony doesn't like to need people."

"He does not like help." Ziva agreed, a small smile on her face at her partner's stubborn streak as well as his pride. While it drove them all over the edge, there were times where it could be endearing.

"Well, this is the first time someone had saved him and risked their life doing it… How do you believe he felt?" there was murmur of understanding at the statement. No, Tony wouldn't like something like that...

"He didn't want to owe me." Gibbs added quietly. It was something he had noticed about his agent early on. Tony was someone who kept track of favors. He didn't want anyone to have any sort of leverage over him in any way, and in best case, he liked to be the one who people owed. At the time, Gibbs hadn't really thought about what he was doing that day. He had seen the glint of the gun towards his agent and the rest was history. He wasn't about to let someone kill his agent when he had barely had him for a week. It was only after the hospital visit that he had realize how much it was driving DiNozzo up the wall. Tony's young voice echoed through his mind. _People don't do that for me Gibbs! So for God's sake don't start! _The older man sighed, running a hand through his hair and looking at the empty desk in the room.

Where was Tony now?

* * *

The rain wouldn't stop pouring.

It was annoying, having the water constantly in his eyes, but Tony didn't mind too much since it was washing the blood off his hands and clothes. At this point he wasn't sure if it was his own or the man who lay dead in front of him. Pushing his hair out of his eyes, Tony tried to ignore the stream of red going into the storm gutter and looked at the long knife wound that bled from his side.

He cursed, knowing he wouldn't be able to get stitches while undercover and desperately looked at his cell, hoping for some sort of cell service to contact Jenny. Sadly, there was none and the agent closed his eyes, trying to figure out where he could hide for the next couple hours, hopefully with some string and a needle to fix himself up.

God he missed his team… What he would do to see Ziva or Tim's face right now… Though considering the circumstances, he figured it was better if they were out of sight. The last thing he needed was to see one of his team members in any sort of well…Danger as ironic as that was. After so many cases, one would think he would get used to seeing them almost die.

Trying to distract himself as he ran through the empty streets of the city, Tony let his mind run through a few flashbacks. Boarding school, graduation, college… For some reason though, his memories flicked past them all and to one point where he was arguing with Gibbs in a hospital bed.

'_If you want this- If you want to be here, with this team and these people, you have __**got**__ to trust me.'_

Swallowing hard, Tony looked at his phone again and as if by magic three bars appeared on the screen. Flicking it open, he went straight for Jenny's number before pausing and looking down at the one underneath.

_You have __**got**__ to trust me_…

* * *

***Ten Years Ago***

Tony stormed into NCIS, his blood boiling with anger as he headed down to Abby's lab.

"What happened!?" Viv yelled when she first saw him stalk past the bullpen. All eyes were drawn to him, dirty, sweaty, and covered in Gibbs' blood. He ignored her though, not in the mood to deal with the agents here or his own partner for that matter. Pushing the elevator button, he waited until they opened again to fling the evidence and an unsuspecting Abby.

"Well, _someone_ is in a bad mood…" she started, but trailed off when she saw Tony's state. "Oh my God…What happened? Tony, where's Gibbs?" she asked, her voice slowly rising with panic and the man quickly regretted coming to her in such a temperamental state.

"He's going to be fine, Abby. He told me he'll be back in a couple hours." He assured her and watched as the worry still etched into the Goth's face, her eyes already watering and lipstick messed up from her teeth clenching down on her lip.

"What happened?" she demanded again fiercely and Tony felt a pang of guilt. Would she hate him for the truth? That Gibbs got hurt to save him? Something must have shown on his face, because her eyes narrowed. "Tony…" she said glaringly and the agent clenched his hands.

"I didn't ask him to." He said, his voice very clearly defensive "He…He just pushed me down, and…" his voice trailed off, the tone of undeniable guilt clear. There was a moment of heavy silence which was filled with loud music that was turned off after a couple moments. Looking up, Tony saw Abby looking at him with something of understanding.

"Okay. Where's he hurt?" she asked. Though her voice was still thick with concern it was a little more soothing now.

"He got shot in the arm… He's in the hospital now. He told me that you and Ducky can't see him until after your work is done."

"Well, he was well enough to give us all his orders." Abby smiled, though it seemed forced. Tony got the feeling that if she hadn't been feeling so bad for him, she would be freaking out. "You didn't get hurt too, right?" she added, looking at him suspiciously and Tony shook his head.

"Abby he jumped in front of a gun." He said and a pair of green eyes latched onto him, clearly analyzing him carefully.

"I'm sure it was worth it." She told him gently and Tony bit his tongue. No. It was _not_ worth it. He _wasn't_ and it wasn't alright that he did that.

"Abby, Gibbs doesn't even _know_ me." He said flatly, pacing up and down the lab. "He shouldn't have-"

"Don't you _dare_ finish that sentence." Abby suddenly cut him off coldly "Look, I don't like the fact he's in the hospital. And trust me, the moment I see him, I'll make sure that there isn't so much as a scratch on him that the doctor hasn't looked at." She said "But I would rather have him mildly hurt than you dead. Would you have done the same?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Then we're done talking about this." The analyst told him and turned back to her screen "If you see Gibbs before me tell him he owes me another five Caff-Pows for worrying me."

Feeling his frustration rise again, he quietly left the lab, determined to get this situation fixed.

* * *

Gibbs hated hospitals. There wasn't any real reason why other than if you were in the hospital it meant one of two things. One: someone you care about is hurt or two: you are hurt and there will be doctors that will try to keep you from doing anything.

Which was exactly what was happening now. Gibbs was _trying_ to get checked out AMA, but of course the nurses were purposely doing things slowly or doing things such as 'losing paperwork' or 'needing to attend to other patients', but Gibbs wasn't fooled. They were just trying to get him to stay.

It was rather infuriating considering he was fine. The bullet hadn't caused any serious damage other than blood loss. No arteries or veins had been hit, and nothing touched his bone. His muscles had some serious damage of course, but now that it was tightly wrapped, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. He figured a week and he would be perfectly normal.

"What's the verdict?" a voice spoke from the doorway, and Gibbs looked up from his bed and scowled. Of course DiNozzo would come here.

"I'm fine. They just are taking their time to release me." He rolled his eyes and then glared "I thought I told you-"

"You told Ducky and Abby. Not me." Tony cut in boldly and Gibbs gave him a warning glance for interrupting. The younger man didn't seem to care though as he threw a folder on his bed. "I got some stuff on the case." He added and Gibbs waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, he opened his mouth to tell him to hurry up, but Tony beat him to it.

"We've known each other for three weeks Gibbs. Three. You can't just start taking bullets for me."

"You're telling me what I can and can't do now?" Gibbs quickly challenged, though the amount of how much the situation seemed to bother Tony interested him.

"No… Yes… I don't know." He said, sounding frustrated "You're just not supposed to do that."

"You're on my team…So I am supposed to do that."

"No! People don't do that for me Gibbs! So for God's sake don't start!" Tony suddenly hissed, standing up.

"You would rather be dead?" Gibbs challenged, his voice rising as well and the hesitation was all he needed as an answer. "You would rather be dead than have someone save you. Are you really that prideful?" he asked lowly and for a moment something flickered on Tony's face that stated he crossed something.

"This has nothing to do with pride."

"Then what?" Gibbs asked, and he suddenly saw something on Tony's face. Raw emotion was there, worry, concern, and fear… It disappeared a second later, leaving Gibbs barely understanding its purpose of being there.

"Listen to me. If you want this- If you want to be here, with this team and these people, you have _got_ to trust me." Gibbs told him "You have to trust _them_."

"And you trust me?"

"I hired you didn't I?"

There was a long pause in which Gibbs saw the agent considering his words under careful contemplation. For a moment it looked as though he was going to argue with him again, but instead he gave a small smile and leaned back in his chair.

"True… Though you might regret it when I end up in here twice a week. Speaking of which, did you get any hot nurses?"

* * *

***Present Time***

"Really?" Ziva asked incredulously "Just like that." She asked snapping her fingers "He let it go just like that?"

"Oh no." Ducky told her and Alex smiled.

"Tony can switch personalities within seconds. He didn't let it go, he just needed some time to find another way to deal with it." He explained and Scarlett nodded in agreement, silently willing the pain in her heart to go away at the truth of the words.

"He's always had trust issues…" she murmured quietly and Tim frowned.

"He trusted us pretty quickly…I think." He added with a frown. _Did_ Tony trust him? He always thought so, but…

"He did." Jimmy spoke up reassuringly, but no one failed to notice the past tense.

"Did?" Ziva asked skeptically and Jimmy looked very uncomfortable at the unasked question. _What about now?_

"Well, uh… You guys were pretty hard on him when Agent Gibbs left." He admitted "He got really frustrated with all the stuff that was going on…" he trailed off and then licked his lips, trying to gain his confidence to speak for on Tony's behalf. "You guys know Tony has been stabbed in the back a lot. Do you really think he is going to trust easily? And you guys all turned on him. I'm sure he's forgiven you, but I think it'll be awhile before he…You know. Trusts you again." He admitted and there was a foreboding silence.

Gibbs sat there without much of a comment, wondering that after the last couple of weeks if they were any closer to having Tony trust him again. The ring of his cell distracted him from his thoughts, having him flip it open warily.

"Gibbs." He answered and listened to the sound of labored breathing and the sound of rain in the background.

"Hey boss… Think you can give me a lift?"


	9. Chapter 9

To my Dear, Awesome, AMAZING Readers,

Alright, so let me start off by saying I'm posting this in both of stories I'm working on now **Wavering Washington** and **Left Behind**, and if you have are still keeping up with them, you are utterly amazing. As I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't been updating very well for at least month and I thought I'd update you of what exactly it going on, because it isn't fair of me to just disappear off the face of the earth like that.

Remember a couple chapters back when I said I hadn't been updating because a friend of mine, Felicity, was sick and I needed to look after her? And then she got better? Well, things have changed a bit and I didn't give you guys the whole picture.

Felicity isn't my friend first off, she's my daughter. Now freeze. I can feel some of you doing the math in your head, since I have mentioned before that I'm fifteen. I want to make it clear that if I hear a single negative thing towards me, or my daughter I swear to God I will go off on you. No, I am not a slut who got knocked up by her boyfriend and I resent those words every time I hear them (and my actual boyfriend, Jason, would like to add that he does too). I was thirteen at the time and walking alone from school one day. That should be enough for you to figure out what happened. We're dropping this topic now, please do not comment on it.

Anyways, Felicity is still a baby, only just passing her first birthday. At birth however, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart anomaly. That's the main reason I've been so absent. It hasn't been horrible, up until a couple months ago. A lot of drugs and treatments aren't safe to use either so everything has been an awful, emotional fight…In fact, that may have been the reason all my writing has been so emotional as well come to think of it! Felicity went into recovery, since she had surgery and this kind of heart problem isn't normally that serious, but due to other genetic problems (at least we think that is what it is…We really don't know her father's records to be sure since I don't have any of the diseases) she has recently worsened.

This has been…Extraordinarily hard for me, as I'm sure you can understand. I need to focus on my child, and giving everything I have to making her better. Which is why I'm discontinuing these stories. I'm still going to write, it is a great escape when I'm sitting in a hospital waiting room, but I can't ever seem to focus on these stories anymore. I'm immensely sorry for making you guys wait this long, but it has been really hard to write this A/N… I'm actually tearing up a little right now.

Back to the point. I'm no longer going to be updating these, but if anyone wants to finish them, I am totally fine with giving them up for adoption. Just PM me so I know and can post something to tell who is finishing it.

Finally, I just wanted to say thank you all for reviewing and encouraging me and that I am truly sorry I'm unable to finish. Also, I know that there are some incredibly kind hearts out there who are probably already thinking of ways to help me through this right now and thank you for the thoughts, but I would appreciate it if no one PMed me about this. I feel like that would just make it so much harder for me.

Thanks again,

Kensi


End file.
